The Road to Redemption
by Kalenath Shok-Tan
Summary: How far would you go when you mess up? When all you DO is mess up? When every single time you try something, you mess it up? Tenno may have evolved from humans, but that does not make them perfect. Oh no... This is a fanfiction. I own none of the rights to Warframe.
1. Chapter 1

**Choices**

He hated this feeling. Of everything he had ever encountered –and remembered- this feeling of powerlessness was the absolute worst. It was not normal. He was Tenno, a living weapon. Born and bred, trained and tested, he had survived horrors unimaginable to get to where he was. But now… Now he was powerless. His Ash warframe was fully powered, his Latron rifle and Bronco pistol were fully loaded with ammunition. His Ether sword was as sharp as the day it had been created. But… he was powerless.

He had been full of hope. Having the two greatest enemies of the Tenno –and the few remnants of humanity- fighting each other was a gift. The Grineer Empire and the Corpus did not like the Tenno at all, but they detested each other even more. The swift escalation of hostilities between Grineer general Sargas Ruk and Corpus executive Alad V had taken many by surprise. The Grineer were powerful and arrogant, no question, but all out _invasion_? Just the thought of the two massive superpowers that had been causing so much harm across the Solar System duking it out with each other instead of wreaking havoc with those who could not fight back had raised a lot of spirits. Spirits that had been quickly dashed.

The cause of the conflict was a group of sleeping Tenno! The Corpus had located them and were working to exploit them for something called the 'Zanuka Project'. While the actual truth of the project was unknown at the time, knowing the Corpus, that could not be anything good, but then the Grineer had moved in to counter the Corpus gaining a significant advantage. The resulting conflict had spread across the whole of Mars local space. First the Grineer had the advantage, then the Corpus had. As bad as the conflicts between Grineer and Corpus had normally been, this had been far, far worse. Both sides had known they could not win on their own, both sides had reached out to the Tenno to aid their war efforts. Many Tenno had simply refused to aid either group, knowing that if they did, they consequences could be devastating. He had chosen to aid the Corpus to keep the Grineer's massive empire from growing even further. He had known going in that his kin might pay a hefty price for his support of the religious fanatics, but… he hadn't had a clue.

The conflict had resolved itself when both sides had tired themselves out, used up all available resources and essentially paused to regroup. Fighting still erupted in fits and starts in many places as local commanders took advantage of perceived enemy weaknesses. The downside to that was that not all of the weaknesses were real. Some of the attacks made headway, others were repulsed. That was the nature of warfare. The major problem though was not the Corpus _or_ the Grineer. Both had seemingly forgotten that there was another powerful mass of foes in the system. Now, the Infested were in the move.

The Ash watched in silence from his high perch on a mountainside as yet another small human outpost was overrun by Infested. He was too far away to hear the screams as the humans ran, hid and in a few cases fought. It made no difference. The few humans who were armed were largely untrained with the weapons that they had managed to hide from the Grineer slavers who had swept through the area. Any weapon found was grounds for immediate execution. Any hint of rebellion was grounds for the eradication of entire villages. The Grineer considered normal humans to be inferior and declined to even leave garrisons in most human settlements. This left the humans woefully unprepared for any kind of attack, let alone the Infested.

Infested were… hard to categorize. Some of them acted with animalistic savagery. Others acted with some kind of semi-sentience. Still others seemed to be hyper intelligent. All were linked somehow through the Technocyte virus into a huge group mind. What one saw, all knew. All might not comprehend what was seen, but all would see it. The Ash maintained his vigil as a pack of Chargers dashed into the midst of the few humans who were still firing and knocked them down. The fire stopped, the rest of the Infested moved up and the battle quickly became a slaughter as the few armed defenders were slain. It was odd though. Infested did not actually kill their enemies. What they did was far, far worse. They disabled and then infected them. No one was immune to the horrible disease. Grineer, Corpus, human, Tenno… Any who were infected were lost to the horrors of the virus. Mental capacity fell away in most cases, leaving a bestial half awareness. He had heard of some who had either recovered from the virus or been treated somehow, but he had never seen any actual proof.

The Ash shook his head as the infested below started to scour the houses for any hidden remnants. There was nothing he could do against an entire horde. Once he would have charged in anyway, just to do _something_. But things had changed.

_The town has fallen._ He said in his mind. _They fought as well as they could, but none escaped. The Infested are nesting._

_Any sign of your quarry? _The voice of his minder asked. Her tone was cold and remote. It hadn't always been that way. But then again, he had given lots of people cause to dislike and distrust him.

_No._ The Ash said with a sigh. _I might have been able to save a few of them._ He said quietly.

_You have your orders Tenno._ The Lotus snapped. _Carry them out._ Then her voice vanished.

He couldn't really blame her for her attitude. He had believed. He had obeyed. He had done something far, far beyond the pale. What was worse? He hadn't had cause like the one who had taken his honor. At least now, maybe he had a chance to do something right. Maybe. He hoped so.

It had been so hard. Surrendering to the judgment of the Elders without a fight had been hard. He wouldn't have been able to win. The other Tenno who had been all around him had been ready for resistance. But he was no renegade. He never had been. He followed orders. Even when the orders hadn't made sense, he was a soldier. He served. He obeyed. It was what he did. He hadn't like the idea of sneaking into another clan's dojo to snatch a prisoner from it. He certainly hadn't liked what had happened. What should have been a simple in and out mission had wound up with him carrying two struggling girls while the other Tenno with him had mind controlled two others to follow. The names they called him… 'Traitor', 'Renegade', 'Fool'… All of that had hurt. What had hurt worse was the knowledge that he was. He was party to an attack on another clan of Tenno. It was only by some miracle that none of the prisoners had been hurt or died. Then the realization that he and his small group had transgressed for nothing. That their great plan wouldn't have worked at all. That hurt even more.

Part of him had almost hoped that he would die during the fighting that had erupted when the Grineer had come. At least then he wouldn't have had to face the scorn of his peers. The looks. The mutters. The knowledge that he _was_ renegade. Not by his own choice, but by his commander's. It made no difference. Tenno were supposed to be smart and he hadn't been.

The Ash shook off the past and started down the mountain away from where the Infested were nesting. Making more of themselves from the bodies of the fallen humans. He couldn't do anything for the humans even if he hadn't been ordered not to interfere. He shook himself and his Latron came to hand as he sprinted silently away from the horrors. He had a mission.

After the Grineer and Corpus had exhausted themselves at Mars, there had been a quiet but clear order to find out more about the Corpus latest brainchild. The words 'Zanuka Project' had been bandied about by Alad V during the fighting but little had been discovered. The success of much of the Grineer invasion had allowed the Tenno to rescue many of their kin from the Corpus labs, but horror stories had percolated through the ranks, followed by what little information was available. Zanuka was a new breed of Corpus proxy. One built with warframe components. And the way that those components were gathered… He hadn't believed until he and a team had entered a Corpus lab and run into Alad V and his abomination himself. The… ghastly bits of one of his brothers hanging on a rack to be used to build that horrible four legged thing had awakened his rage. The team had destroyed the proxy after a tough fight and tried to terminate Alad V. But the human form they had killed –torn limb from limb- had wound up being a decoy, a hapless Corpus goon who had been dressed up like that fat executive and left for the Tenno to slaughter. Other Tenno teams reported that Alad V was still operating, using captured Tenno as guinea pigs and spare parts to build new and improved versions of his monstrosity. They kept killing him, but it was always decoys.

The Tenno would not stop. Alad V knew this. So his 'Zanuka Project' was likely only the tip of the iceberg. So, Tenno had been sent to find out all that could be discovered about the project. Data raids, prisoner interrogations, smash and grab of technology, all of this had helped paint a picture. A gruesome picture. But… there was an oddity. An anomaly near the beginning of the project that none of the Tenno intelligence specialists had been able to figure out. One of the labs that Alad V had frequented had suffered some kind of calamity. All of the Corpus personnel present had died, and the lab itself had been destroyed by a reactor meltdown. But… According to the Lotus, no Tenno had been anywhere _near_ that lab. And, even more oddly, the only clue was a door to a cell that had been broken open from the _inside_.

The Ash had been part of the recon team sent to investigate the Corpus ruins. He had found… something. An odd footprint. One that did not match any known boot used by Grineer, Corpus, Tenno or human. It looked sort of like a boot with claws. The recon team, baffled but satisfied that the lab itself held no more secrets, had departed. He had remained. He had wanted to investigate and had made arguments both to the Lotus and to the recon team commander. The recon team had left him in silence. They hadn't even acknowledged his arguments. The Lotus had told him to search and remain covert. He got the hint. Out of sight, out of mind. No one wanted to associate with a traitor even if he hadn't really been one.

He had spent the last week searching this planetoid. For such a small body, it held a great deal of terraformed area. The Grineer had invaded and taken over, but his search had continued. And now… The Infested had come.

The Ash shook his head slowly as he ran across the landscape. Then he froze in midstep and stared at the ground. On a sandy patch was a footprint almost exactly like the one he had seen in the facility. He thought for a moment, then called it in.

_Lotus?_ _I have found another footprint._ He placed himself with his map and nodded. _It looks like it was going away from the facility._ There was no response. _Orders?_ He nearly pleaded. Still no response.

The Ash shook himself a little. This was getting ridiculous. Yes, he had messed up. More than once. But sheesh. He had proof, some kind of oddity that might lead to a break against Alad V and his horrors. Why treat him like an outcast now?

_What do I have to do to prove myself, Lotus?_ He demanded silently. _What do I have to say? I was wrong! I know that. I… I believed Grina. That was wrong. I understand why none of my kin trust me, but please, Lotus. I want to do __**something**__ right!_ The echoes in his head were deafening, but there was still no response.

The Ash slumped and looked at the footprint. It was heading towards a line of low hills in the distance. The area ahead was mostly rocky. Few footprints would be left. But he had time. He had all the time in the universe now. As an outcast, he had nowhere to go, nothing to do. Immortal in his warframe, he had all the time in the universe to remember his stupidity, his impatience and his arrogance. He started off again, his warframe sensors scanning at their most sensitive. The last thing he needed was to be blindsided by Grineer or Corpus while hunting this mystery. Then he paused.

Tracks led up one of the hills. The same odd tracks he had been following. Now that he could see them, they looked almost like Tenno boot prints. Almost. Where the toes of a Tenno boot would have been, claws raked the ground in places. And to each side, odd marks shone where something had trailed on the ground at times. _What_ was he following? From the tracks, it was humanoid. Two legs anyway. He shook his head again and followed the tracks until they came to a stream and then his eyes went wide under his helmet. Someone had knelt down at the stream, probably to drink. The water ran clear and fast along this hill. The knee prints looked… wrong. Then he looked further and found more tracks leading up the hill. He shook his head again. He had to know what was going on.

His Latron was sweeping the area as he stepped across the stream, his steps slow and careful. He was no tracker by trade, but Tenno picked up a lot of skills in their long lifetimes. The cryo-nesia might have dampened some, diluted others, but somehow he knew that the tracks that he was following now were fresher than the ones leading up to the stream. Whoever or whatever had made the tracks had been coming to the stream for water. The question was… Why? Warframes did not need water. They were self-contained, self-sustaining. So… What?

It happened with no warning at all. One moment, he was walking carefully up the hill, his rifle sweeping, then he was flying through the air. He had a moment to realize that something had grabbed him and hauled him into the air, then he hit and pain eclipsed everything. He lost his rifle and scrabbled to his feet, hand sweeping down to grab his pistol only to freeze at what met his eyes.

The female Tenno stood in an aggressive posture. She was unarmed. Her warframe was a mess of bio-mechanical flesh and metal fused in what looked to be painful fashions. Her helmet had two wing like protrusions. Her wrists had some kind of metal things on them that had some kind of cables hanging from them, cables that thrashed as she readied herself to charge.

"Wait!" He called. "I am not your enemy!" He pleaded, his hands coming up empty. She ignored his words and charged.

He didn't want to hurt her, but she had no such compunctions. He quickly found himself on the defensive, her blows coming faster and faster as she snarled and spat. He dodged and evaded for all he was worth.

"Sister! Please!" He begged her as he backpedaled. "I am not…" His foot caught empty air and he was falling. The last thing he saw as the ground came up to meet him was her warframe silhouetted against the sky. Then worse pain slammed all other thoughts from Olim's mind and darkness followed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Prisoner**

The Tenno known as Olim woke suddenly and completely. He knew immediately that something was wrong. He hurt in a number of places. That shouldn't have happened, no matter how far he had fallen, his warframe should have repaired the damage he took. But it was what didn't hurt that was far more frightening. He couldn't feel anything below his hips. He tried to key for a diagnostic, but his warframe did not respond. He opened his eyes and went very still.

"Good morning, Tenno." The human on the other side of the bars said with a smirk. He was dirty, but the Sobek shotgun in his hands was immaculate. Just looking at it, Olim count tell it was loaded and the safety was off. "Did you sleep well?" The man asked with fake concern.

Olim looked at the human and then around the area without moving his head. He was in a small room with rock walls. His warframe was… He exhaled sharply as he saw tattered fragments of bio-mechanical armor on his limbs. Below the waist, it was mostly intact, but above it, it was in tatters. Someone had cut most of his warframe off! That was possible, but... Olim looked around again. The bars had a large mechanical lock on them and separated the room in half. The half that Olim was in had a cot and nothing else. The other half had a door but it looked solid and had to be locked as well.

"Nothing to say, Tenno?" The guard asked with a snarl. "No lies?" Olim looked at the man and then sank back on the bed, closing his eyes. "Don't ignore me, Betrayer!" The human snapped.

Olim did not respond. He was a prisoner. He was injured. From the feelings -and lack of feeling- his spine was damaged. Escape was not possible. He took a deep breath and focused his mind as he had been taught in training. They might have his body, but he would be free.

"Jalso!" Another male voice snapped. "Get out of there!" Olim paused in his meditation. What was going on?

"You don't order me, Kimbel!" The guard –if he was one- snapped back, but the outer door opened and another human entered the room. This one had a Vyper machine pistol aimed at the guard. "You wouldn't!" The man with the shotgun declared. But he did lower it.

"You were told to stay out!" The man with the pistol said firmly. "You got a problem with that, take it up with the Council. Now git!"

"You can't trust these Tenno!" The man with the shotgun said stoutly. He did move to leave. The machine pistol tracked him. "You know what they did!"

"I know what I _think_ they did. I don't know exactly what happened." The man with the pistol said with a scowl. "Now _git!_" He snapped and the door clanged shut behind the other man. He sighed and then turned back to Olim. "Sorry about that. Jalso lost his family when the Grineer came through." He set the pistol down by the door! "I need to check your injuries. Will you let me?" The man asked. Olim just looked at him. "Even if you cannot talk, you can nod or something. My name is Kimbel."

This was…very odd. Olim wasn't sure _what_ was going on. He sighed inaudibly and nodded, laying back. The human stepped to the door, opened the lock and entered quickly. Olim watched through slitted eyes as the human worked quickly and efficiently to check all of his injuries. It was done quickly and then the man stepped back.

"Do you know what happened?" The human asked. Olim shook his head and the man sighed. "We found you on a sweep. We have been looking for survivors, checking all the towns for people who avoided the Grineer slavers." Olim stiffened and the man paused. "What?"

Olim thought for a moment and then discarded subterfuge. "Did you find me near a hill with a stream halfway up it?" He asked. The human was staring at him, wide eyed. "Yes, we can talk. No, we don't in the field unless there is no choice. Did you find me near a hill with a stream halfway up it?"

"The hill had a stream. You were at the base of a cliff, your body broken on a rock." The man said slowly. "We didn't think you were alive until you started to move."

"It is very important." Olim said slowly. "There was a mountain three days walk to the east." The man stared at him and Olim shook his head. "The village on the other side is gone. Infested." The man's eyes seemed to bug out of his head and Olim sighed. "Yeah."

"You fought them?" Kimbel asked softly, incredulous.

"I was ordered not to." Olim said sadly. "I wanted to. But orders are orders. All I could do was watch." He slumped a bit. "I don't blame you for hating me. No matter how much you hate me, you cannot hate me as much as I hate myself."

"Why didn't you stop the Grineer?" Kimbel demanded. "None of this would have happened if you had stopped them."

"I tried to." Olim said softly. "I failed." His hands were checking over his body now and paused on something. Something that didn't fit. Something that was stuck to his lower back just over his spine. "Nice." He said as he ripped it off. Kimbel flinched at the sound and then paled as Olim sat up. "Did you use this?" He asked, waving the small patch at the human.

"I didn't." The human asked, swallowing hard.

"Where is the rest of my warframe?" Olim asked coldly. "And my weapons?"

"We didn't find any weapons." Kimbel said with a gulp. "And we had to cut you out of that armor."

"So you destroyed my warframe." Olim said slowly. "Or did you sell the bits to the Corpus?" The man's eyes flickered and Olim had his answer. "I see." Olim said softly. "I am leaving." He said flatly. "You and your people cannot stop me."

"You are worth a lot alive, Tenno." Kimbel said with a grimace. "Don't be stupid."

"I should say the same to you." Olim said quietly. "Do you know what they do to Tenno they capture?"

"Should we care?" Kimbel asked quietly.

"No." Olim said sadly. "I guess not. Being dissected and the pieces of living flesh being used to make monsters is a proper fate for one such as me? Right?" He asked.

"You are worth a lot as you are, Tenno." Kimbel said as the stepped out of the barred enclosure and shut it. "Don't be stupid."

"Good advice." Olim said quietly. "Here is more. Take your friends and _run_. Now. The Corpus won't let you live. If you are _lucky_…" He said with a heavy sarcasm on the word 'lucky'. "…all they will do is kill you. If not?" Olim shrugged. "Well… I hear their brainwashing hurts like hell."

"Better them than the Grineer." Kimbel said with a snap.

"Odd thing that." Olim said slowly. "You know… I worked for the Corpus to try and stop the Grineer invasions. Other Tenno tried to get me to work with the Grineer. They said 'The Grineer take slaves. The Corpus take lives. Slaves can be freed, the dead cannot be'. For the Corpus, profit is everything. If you are not profitable, you are dead. Did you tell them where to find you?"

"Do I look that stupid?" Kimbel snapped. "I took them the bits, got a quote and left."

"I hope you checked your vehicle for trackers." Olim said, laying back on the cot. "Not that it really matters. They won't pay you."

"Why not?" Kimbel asked cautiously.

"This world is falling to the Infested." Olim said quietly. "They have more important uses for their funding. Why waste funds when they can use lives? Lives are cheap to the Corpus." Olim glanced at Kimbel who had paled again. "Good luck. You are gonna need it." The human scooped up his pistol and darted out the door without a backward glance.

Olim sighed and lay back for a moment. His wounds were mostly superficial and healing. But without his weapons, and without his warframe, he did not give himself much chance if…

He went still as something changed nearby. A piece of wall had moved. Just a little, but it had. He stared at the wall and then jumped a little as a rock suddenly fell in. A hand appeared from the darkness. A hand with familiar metal on it's wrist. The Tenno who had thrown him off the cliff? Here? It beckoned again, firmly and Olim sighed silently. What choice did he have? He rose from the cot and moved to the wall. The hole was dark and he could see nothing. The hand appeared, beckoning stronger and he eased into the hole. It was a very tight fit. If he had been in his warframe, he likely wouldn't have been able to get past the first turn. A hand grasped his and pulled him on. The hand was armored, but he could feel the nubs of claws. Whatever fate this unknown Tenno was leading him to, it had to be better than waiting to be sold to the Corpus. Behind him, he heard a shout and then cursing, but he kept moving.

There was no light at all. He lost track of time. He crawled. Sometimes he could move on his hands and knees, sometimes, he had to squirm around and through natural obstacles. All through it though, the hand was there. Sometimes pulling him, sometimes just guiding him. He hoped his guide had some idea where they were going, because without light or any high tech…

LIGHT!

Olim threw both hands over his face as pain seared into his eyes. The hand was on his shoulder now, guiding, easing him to a sitting position and squeezing gently as he sat and tried to recover. When he could see again, Olim looked around. He was sitting in a small grotto. The light was dim, but after a lengthy stay underground, his eyes were sensitive. He looked to his guide and yes, it was the female Tenno he had fought before. She sat nearby, her posture wary. She wore a Valcyr warframe. He hadn't had the chance to recognize it before. He nodded to her.

"Thank you." He said quietly. She went still, tilting her head as if confused. "Do you understand me?" He asked, worried. The damage to her warframe's structure was extreme and not limited to the torso. She did not react and he slumped. "What did they do to you, sister?" He asked sadly.

The female Tenno reached for him and he let her touch his forehead over his eyes. Her tilted head was a question. Olim frowned. He covered his eyes with his hands and she nodded. Her hand rested on his shoulder and gave a squeeze. He covered it with his own and squeezed back. She indicated another dark opening and Olim nodded, squelching a sigh.

_Good thing I am not claustrophobic._

It was long trip. Every so often, the female Tenno would stop them somewhere. Occasionally, there would be water in the cave and she would indicate for him to drink. He did, then stepped away while she did. Once, he tried to see her face when her faceplate opened, but she hissed at him and he backed off. She didn't want him to see her face. Finally, on the third stop, Olim heard something. He froze and the female Tenno did as well.

"I am tell you, sir… I don't _know_ how he got out of the cell!" The voice was Kimbel. The human was terrified. "He was there when I left!"

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you, Mr. Kimbel?" The voice was familiar. Olim started and then stared as the female Tenno seemed to wilt. Alad V. The real one or a decoy? "You dragged me out here to show me an empty cell and now you spin a wild tale of underground tunnels. Our sensors can find no trace of Tenno or indeed of anything alive for thirty kilometers. Above ground _or_ below."

"They have got to be under this hill!" the other human –Jalso- said with a snap. "The tunnels might be large enough for a humanoid form, but how the hell would he find his way? This is the only path that nay of our remotes found. He has to be between here and the cell."

"I think you two are lying to me." Alad V said calmly. "I don't like people lying to me. Where is the Tenno?" He demanded.

"I don't know!" Kimbel said with fear in his voice. "Look, it has to be here! You can dig…"

"And now you want me to _dig?_" The Corpus executive said with a sigh. "Ah well, and our partnership had so much promise." Olim stared as the female Tneno sudden collapsed. He was on his feet in the small cave, moving to kneel beside where she lay, shivering. "You have cost me time. In my business, Mr. Kimbell, Mr. Jalso, time is money. You brought me out here for nothing. Ah well."

"No!" Jalso begged. "No! Please…"

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Jalso." Alad V said calmly. "I will turn a profit from selling _your_ bits." Both men screamed. The screams cut off abruptly at the sound of Corpus weapon's fire. "Idiots. Tech, any signs?"

"No sir." The voice of a Corpus tech said with conviction. "These hills are rife with ore deposits that confound our sensors but we should pick up _something_. If a Tenno was here, it is long gone."

"They got the parts of that one warframe _somewhere._" Alad V said with a snarl. "I want proxies sweeping those tunnels." Olim froze, but the female Tenno didn't move. He laid a slow hand on her shoulder and she was quivering. "Pack up everything but the search proxies. And yes, take the bodies. I am sure we can sell them… somewhere." The sound of Corpus forces faded.

Olim leaned close to shivering female Tenno and spoke in a low tone. "We have to go. We have to go _now_."

She stared up at him, not comprehending. Olim sighed and then made a motion of walking. She nodded slowly and rose, indicating another small tunnel nearby. He followed her into the tunnel and was immediately in blackness again.

What followed was a timeless crawl through darkness. He had no idea how long they were moving. Once she stopped and let him rest for a bit, then she woke him from his doze and they started off again. Olim had always prided himself on being strong, but this… There was something almost alive about the darkness around him. Alive and hungry. It seemed that the universe was compressing down into a pitch black tunnel with a guiding hand as his only connection to the outside. Was he going mad? He wondered. He didn't know.

After who knew how long, Olim followed his guide into a dimly lit area that was larger. She paused by an oddly shaped shadow and beckoned him close. He stared and then smiled as his eyes adjusted and he saw his weapons piled.

"You picked up my weapons." He said softly. He ran a hand along his Latron, his Bronco and his Ether sword. The female Tenno was watching him carefully but stiffened as he picked up the sword and held it out to her handle first. "You can probably use this better than me." He said quietly. Instead of taking it, she backed away. He stared at her, dumbfounded. "Without a warframe, I can't carry all of this at once and expect to use it." Olim said calmly as he laid the weapon back down. "You can use this." He said as he waved towards the blade before stepping away himself.

"My name is Olim." The male Tenno said softly. "What is yours?" The other just stared at him and Olim sighed. He pointed at himself. "Olim." He pointed at the other and she did not react. He shook his head. 'What happened to you, sister?" He went still as the other made a noise. It was not anything he recognized. "What?" He asked.

Olim froze as her hand came up and…pulled mass of metal from her throat! His eyes had to be as wide as dinner plates as she set the piece down and turned her head to show him… the ruin of her throat. Her entire voicebox was gone, replaced by some kind of breathing apparatus. He slumped in place and then to his knees, his eyes burning. She couldn't talk!

"Do you understand me?" Olim asked slowly and carefully. The female Tenno stared at him and Olim sighed. "You don't or cannot make yourself understood. You need help, sister. Help I cannot give. We need help. We need to call for help." He shook his head. "Sooner or later, no matter how well we hide, the Corpus will find us."

Somehow, that got through to her and she slumped to the floor as well, bowing her head. Olim sighed and then shook himself.

"I don't know how we are going to get out of this, sister." Olim said softly. "But we will. I swear to you, we will get out of this. But first, we both need rest and I need to figure out how to communicate with you. I bet trying to call for help without explaining to you how and why I do will not go over well with you."

He lay down on the floor, making sure his Latron was within reach. The other did the same, slowly and carefully, never taking her eyes from him as she replaced the metal on her throat.

_Alad V cannot suffer nearly enough for what he has done._ Olim thought bitterly as sleep took him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Communication**

Olim woke immediately when his odd companion shifted a bit. Then he heard it. The low hum was familiar. A Corpus Osprey was nearby. The Valcyr was growling, but subsided as Olim rolled to his knees, his rifle coming to his hand.

"Where?" He asked softly, then kicked himself mentally. She didn't understand him.

He held out an empty hand and waved it towards the sound. He made a face as if he were straining to hear and tilted his head from side to side. The Valcyr looked at him, shook her head, and then moved towards the wall that they had come out of. She pulled a fist back and waited. Olim nodded and moved to another wall, away from where the machine would emerge. He was the bait. Gunfire would bring every Corpus proxy in sensor range. But if one was destroyed by a physical impacts? Well… Olim had always heard that caves were dangerous. He paused and then, with a feral grin, sank back to the floor, arranging himself as if he were still sleeping. The Valcyr looked at him and he smiled at her, a gentler smile before putting his head down. He kept his eyes open and could see the entrance out of the corner of his eye.

The hum grew louder and then, it appeared. The Osprey was very much the worse for wear. It was covered in mud, much like Olim and the Valcyr. It's hull was dinged in places and a rock had apparently hit it hard at one point, leaving a dent the size of Olim's fist on its main housing. It seemed to hesitate for a moment on sensing him, then it moved further into the cavern. He was a bit surprised that the Valcyr didn't strike immediately, but then another Osprey appeared behind the first! They both moved towards the ceiling and then towards him. He didn't recognize the design, but if he could-

Suddenly Olim came awake. An earsplitting howl was echoing through the cavern as the Valcyr pulled one of the Ospreys to her. He jerked. What had happened? He stared down at himself and cursed vilely as he saw a small metal ball fall off his bare torso. A Corpus stunner. He shook himself. How the hell was he awake? Then he saw a rock fall off his chest as well. The Valcyr had apparently thrown the rock to knock the stunner off him before attacking. But she had one of the Ospreys in hand and was ripping it apart with apparent glee. But the other…

His rifle was up and tracking as the silver ball flew from the second Osprey. It hit the Valcyr and she fell without a sound.

"No!" Olim shouted as he fired.

The Latron bucked wildly in his hands, far more than it would have in his warframe and he barely clipped the Osprey. He dropped the Latron and rolled to where his Bronco lay. The damaged Osprey was hovering nearby, something whirring. Reloading? He didn't know or care. It spun to face him and he was in motion. He rolled to his right into a sitting position as another silver ball hit the floor nearby and fired before he was even sure he had the target. He needn't have worried. The spread for the Bronco's pellets was more than sufficient to completely saturate the damaged Osprey's shields and tear it's hull apart. The recoil of the Bronco hurt, but Olim was looking for the other Corpus robotic. It whined on the ground, it's wings torn off. He took careful aim and blew it away. Then all was quiet.

Olim listened for a moment, then dropping the Bronco, went to his knees beside the still Valcyr. He snarled, picked up his pistol and brushed the stunner sphere off of her warframe. Then he laid the pistol down again and carefully eased her limbs so she would be more comfortable. Without a warframe of his own, he had no idea at all how to help her, or if he could. It had been… a long time since he had left his warframe. Now…

He stared down at the tatters of his armor and sighed. The legs were still intact. The torso was just bits of bio-mechanical armor. The arms were mostly intact except for the wrists where his blades usually came out when he used Bladestorm and his shuriken dispenser. Careful inspection with his fingers showed that his helmet was almost intact, with just his faceplate missing. Maybe…

_Lotus?_ Olim asked inside his head.

_Tenno Olim?_ The Lotus' voice held worry. _Where are you?_ She demanded.

_I am not sure._ Olim replied quietly.

_What happened?_ The Lotus asked.

_Again, I am not sure. I…found what I sought._ Olim said with a sigh. _The anomalous footprints came from a sorely hurt Tenno. She is… _Olim slumped a bit. _Ah, Lotus… She is a mess._

_We cannot localize your position. _The Lotus said after a moment. _You are on planet, but… What happened, Tenno Olim?_

_I am underground. I was ambushed by the female Tenno. _Olim said sadly. _She is…not all here, Lotus. The Corpus did… things to her. Her warframe is a mess, but mostly functional. Mine is in worse shape. But… She can't talk and is exhibiting animal behavior._

_Tenno Olim… _The Lotus said, horrified. _Is she sane?_

_I can't tell._ Olim replied softly. _Probably not._

_Get out of there, Tenno._ The Lotus commanded. _If your warframe is damaged__,__ you have no chance against her if she turns on you!_

_I am not leaving her._ Olim said with a snarl. _She saved me from humans who were going to sell me to the Corpus. I owe her._

_You cannot pay a debt if you are __**dead**__! _The Lotus snapped. _Get aboveground and I will arrange pickup._

_I am not leaving her alone._ Olim replied.

_Tenno Olim, I gave you an order!_ The Lotus snapped, patience gone. Olim sighed and shut down his com.

"Well…" Olim said sadly as he sat. "I guess now I _am_ renegade." He shook his head. "At least it isn't me being stupidly selfish this time. Just stupid." He settled himself to wait.

It wasn't long before the Valcyr moved a little. But… He could tell immediately that she wasn't awake. But she was thrashing. A nightmare? Tenno did not usually have nightmares but if anyone had a right to them, this poor female did. He couldn't comfort her physically, if he tried, she could hurt or kill him without realizing. He could sing, but audible sounds would likely bring more Corpus down on them. Instead, he opened a very short range com channel and started to hum. The Valcyr stiffened and then relaxed as the humming soothed her fear and anger. Once she was sleeping again, he stopped.

_Whatever they did to you, sister…_ Olim promised himself. _I will do what I can to help._

It wasn't long before she woke up again. This time, she was on her feet, staring wildly around the area before he even realized she was conscious.

"They are dead, sister." Olim said calmly and quietly. The Valcyr spun to face him, her hands up in an offensive stance. Olim laid his pistol down carefully and rose to stand before her unarmed. "We can't stay here, sister." Olim said with a shake of his head. "The Ospreys were likely set on an antonymous search pattern, but when they do not report back others will be sent. We have to go." He repeated.

She obviously did not understand his words, but she did relax a bit. She tilted her head from side to side, perusing him. He stepped away from his pistol and then knelt down in seiza in the middle of the cave. She stared at him for a moment, and then copied his motions and stance. Once she was situated, Olim held out a hand to her, palm up. She stared at it and he held it there. After a moment, she reached out with her hand to take his in a surprisingly gentle grip. His other hand came up slowly to encompass hers and she stared as he gave her hand a squeeze. She quivered a bit and he released her immediately. He pointed at her, then at himself. Then he made the walking gesture he had made before, only to pause as she shook her head violently. He lowered his hands to his knees.

"Oookay…" Olim said with wince. "We are not going anywhere." She didn't understand the words. That was clear. But she did relax. Then he froze as her hands came up slowly. They reached for his left hand and then, taking it in both of her, she gave it a squeeze. "You do understand." Olim said softly. "Or… partly…"

He shook his head slowly, this was not his field. He was used to breaking things, not trying to make sense of them. He froze solid as her right hand traced up his left arm, her fingers exploring the ragged edges of his warframe. He was fully aware of the claws on her wrists, of the strength of her hands. But they were oddly gentle as they traced up his arm, to his shoulder and then to his neck. He shivered a bit as the fingers traced his jaw. She stopped and retreated.

"You don't want to scare me." Olim said, confused. "And I don't want to scare you." He pointed to himself. "Olim."

The Valcyr made the noise she had made before and Olim sighed. She couldn't speak. And he… He paused. He held up a slow hand and then looked on the floor for a damp patch. Since this was a cave, it didn't take him long. He pointed at the patch and slowly, so slowly, traced his name on the damp rock. The Valcyr stared at him, then at the rock.

"Olim." The male Tenno said with a nod.

The Valcyr warframe seemed to growl. Then she was in motion. Olim had a moment to dive to the side, but she wasn't attacking. She was fleeing! She made for the hole on the rock wall, but Olim got there first, blocking it with his body. She growled at him, but made no motion towards the weapons on the floor. But then her body language registered. She wasn't hostile, she was _terrified!_

"You cannot understand speech, but you understand writing." Olim said with a scowl. He found another patch on the floor and wrote 'Why?' in huge letters. She snarled at him and he shook himself. He smoothed the patch and wrote again. 'What have I done to you?'

The Valcyr bent down, never turning her face from him. She wrote a word on the damp rock and Olim rocked back on his heels, stunned.

'Traitor'

"I…" Olim shook his head, dumbfounded yet again. Yet again, his past caught up with him. He slumped, then stepped away from the hole in the wall. He waved towards it as he moved to the other wall, where he sat, his head hanging. An odd noise had him looking up. The Valcyr hadn't moved. He smoothed the floor near him and wrote again. 'Go.' She just stared at him as tears started falling. "Go!" He yelled.

She didn't. Indeed, she didn't move at all. Then, to his amazement, she smoothed the patch she had written in and wrote another word. 'Why?' Somehow, he knew she wasn't asking why he told her to go.

'I did what I thought was right.' Olim wrote. 'As usual, it was wrong. Please. Go.'

'Why?' She wrote again.

'I will mess up.' Olim wrote 'I always do.' To his amazement, the Valcyr did not move. Indeed, she just stared at him. Then she stepped towards him. He did not move, indeed, did nothing as she stepped up to him. But then… she pulled him up to stand in front of her. He could not meet her face plate. Her hand cupped his cheek and slowly, so slowly, eased his chin up so that he looked the warframe in the face. Then her faceplate retracted.

Olim inhaled sharply. The female Tenno's eyes were gone, replaced by some kind of wires. Where her nose would have been likewise was a mechanical device. But her mouth was still Tenno and it was smiling sadly. She pulled him close and held him as he cried. Finally, she released him and he sank back to his knees. Her faceplate snapped shut and Olim was ashamed of himself that he felt gratitude for that.

'I will mess everything up.' Olim wrote 'It is what I _do_!'

The Valcyr sat on a convenient rock nearby and shook her head. 'No.' She wrote.

'I don't want to hurt any more kin!' Olim protested in writing.

'Then don't.' The Valcyr replied.

'Easy to say.' Olim wrote. 'Not so easy to do.'

'Easy is not for Tenno.' The Valcyr retorted in writing. Olim choked a sour laugh and sighed.

'No.' He admitted. 'No it is not. I didn't mean to help the Corpus. But I couldn't help the Grineer.'

'I know little of this time.' The Valcyr admitted. Olim froze as she slumped. 'I woke in a cage.'

"No…" Olim breathed, horrified. "No…" The female Tenno did not respond and he shook his head. He focused on his writing. 'You understand writing. Not speech?'

'They took my ears.' The Valcyr replied. Olim felt his guts clench. 'I saw you on a monitor that the head researcher used to track our kind. Your name. It showed you fighting beside them.' She looked at him.

'I did.' Olim wrote, shame coloring his face. 'The Grineer are evil, the Corpus are evil. I had to choose.' He bowed his head. 'I am sorry.'

'You did not do this to me.' The Valcyr wrote. 'Only you can say whether what you did was right.'

'It wasn't.' Olim replied in kind. 'But I did not see any other choices. I will pay for my stubborn stupidity for the rest of my life. But I would never have left you in their clutches if I had known, sister.'

'I know.' The Valcyr replied. 'For what it is worth, you have my forgiveness.' Olim stiffened. 'Now you must forgive yourself.'

'I can't.' Olim wrote and then sank back against the wall. The Valcyr looked at him and then made an elaborate shrug.

'Can you tell me about this world I have woken into?' The Valcyr asked in writing after a moment. 'I remember going to sleep. The world was ending in fire and blood.'

Olim looked at her, nodded and then set himself to start writing. 'You remember the Collapse.' It wasn't a question, but the Valcyr nodded anyway. 'May I know your name, sister?'

'My name is Raven.' The Valcyr –Raven- replied. Something about that name spoke to Olim, but he had no idea what. He knew it, he was sure he did. But from where? The feelings about the name were not bad, so he shelved that until later.

'Well met, Raven.' Olim wrote and then shook himself. 'I was woken from my cryo sleep by a being we call the Lotus. The Grineer have been taking over for some time and need to be stopped…'

It was about an hour later when Raven finally called a halt. She was fascinated by much of the world that Olim had been working and fighting in. His 'soldier's eye' view of the massive conflict was flawed, he knew that better than many. But she was kind and gentle about asking.

'We can't stay here, Raven.' Olim wrote. 'They will send more of those Ospreys. And then troops. With only a rifle, a pistol and a sword, we cannot fight off a Corpus assault.'

'This is as far as I have explored, Olim.' Raven wrote, her posture worried. 'I found a number of places in my explorations that were very dangerous. I did a lot of spelunking before the Collapse.' She stopped writing.

'Raven.' Olim wrote. 'Why did you shy away from my sword when I handed it to you?'

'I am not a fighter, Olim.' Raven wrote with a visible shudder. Olim looked at her and she wilted a bit. 'Not anymore.' She wrote again.

'Raven?' Olim asked, concerned. 'You fought the drones.' Raven shook her head savagely and Olim sighed. 'Raven?' He pressed.

'That wasn't me.' Raven wrote. Olim stared at her and she snarled a little. 'It was… someone else. Someone else in my head. She is vicious. Dangerous.'

'What can I do?' Olim asked.

'Leave me.' Raven wrote. Olim shook his head as savagely as she had and she made an exaggerated sigh. 'Olim, don't be stupid. Your warframe is destroyed. If the other in my head decided to, she could kill you.' She paused and then shuddered again. 'And she would ENJOY it.'

'I do not leave my kin in trouble, Raven.' Olim wrote slowly. 'I do not know how I can help, but I will.'

'Stubborn Tenno.' Raven wrote and then slumped. "I do not want to come back to myself standing over your corpse, Olim. Please?' She begged.

Whatever Olim was going to write was tabled as one wall of the cavern suddenly fell in. He rolled for cover, grabbing his rifle as he rolled. He had a moment to see several warframe shapes and then the sun seemed to blossom in the dim light. Olim couldn't see! He prayed Raven was in cover.

"Stand down!" A familiar voice shouted and Olim cursed silently as he tried to get his eyes to work again. "Stand down, Olim!"

"This isn't what you think, Karl!" Olim declared as he laid his Latron on the ground. He had to have several weapons tracking him as he rose, first to a kneeling position and then to stand. His eyes were clearing and he was not surprised to see the Rhino aiming a Hek at him. The Ember beside the Rhino _was_ a surprise. "Jasmina…" He groaned.

"Don't move." The Ember snapped, not moving the muzzle of her Boltor. "Where is the other?"

"I don't know." Olim said honestly. "I lost sight of her when the light blinded me. I can…" He turned a little and then he was thrown backwards as fire blossomed from one of the other Tenno's hands. The sick pain was familiar, but this time, it was not dampened by a warframe. He had been shot! His hand came up to touch his chest and then he was falling. Slowly, so slowly…

An enraged roar was the last thing he heard as comforting blackness took him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Assumptions**

Olim woke to the sounds of fighting. He couldn't have been out long. He was crumpled on the floor, and he could feel wetness on his chest. He rolled on his side and gasped as pain erupted again, but he had to see. He looked up to see Karl's Rhino grappling hand to hand with Raven's Valcyr. Another warframe lay nearby and a Trinity frame was bending over it, green mist coming from her hand. The Trinity had been the one to shoot him. He started to rise, and a blow threw him back to the floor. He looked up into the muzzle of a Lato, held in the rock steady hands of a Loki.

"Go ahead." Olim said with a sigh. "Shoot. Do me a favor."

"Stay down." The Loki said with a snap. "It will be over soon. If she had simply listened, she wouldn't be…"

"She can't _hear_, you moron!" Olim screamed loud enough to be heard even over the combat. "The damn Corpus took her ears!" He slumped in place. "She can't _hear you_…"

"What?" The Loki demanded.

"What part of _she can't_ _hear sound_ do you not _understand_?" Olim demanded. "That bastard Alad V took her ears! She won't surrender. She can't. Not… Not after what just happened. If _she_ is even the one fighting. Raven…" He begged. "Oh, Raven. I have to stop this. Somehow…" He rolled onto his hands and knees.

"Raven?" The Loki demanded. "That is _Raven?_" Olim expected a shot or a blow as he tried to crawl towards where the Valcyr and Rhino were locked in combat. None came. His strength gave out halfway to the battle and he collapsed in a heap.

Suddenly, there was silence in the cavern. Olim couldn't spare the strength to look up. He just lay, waiting for death. It didn't come. Finally, he mustered the will to look up. What he saw was…unexpected. The Valcyr was down but was heaving to her feet as Olim watched. The Rhino had thrown her against the wall and… withdrawn? The Valcyr set herself to charge again and somehow, Olim found the strength to stand. He staggered between the enraged Valcyr and the Rhino and stood there, panting. Raven moved to go around him and he moved to block her. The Loki had withdrawn, his pistol still ready. The Trinity had the Ember up and both had fallen back to the hole that had been cut in the cavern wall. Both had weapons aimed at the Valcyr.

Olim was shaking with both pain and fatigue as he knelt down and wrote on the floor. 'Raven. Stop.'

"What are you…?" The Rhino started, only to be cut off as Olim snarled at him.

"Shut up! You have done _enough_!" Olim snapped and held out his hand to the Valcyr. Raven stared at him and then slowly, so slowly, straightened from her combat stance. Olim bent down again and wrote on the floor. 'Kin.' Raven shook her head savagely. Olim felt faint, but managed to write again. 'Misunderstanding. Not enemies. Please, Raven.' He begged her.

Everything seemed to stop as Raven bent down as well. Somehow she did not take her gaze from the four warframes, but her hand traced the dirt. 'They hurt you.' All four of the other warframes went still at that.

'They had cause.' Olim wrote. 'I am renegade. Please Raven." He gasped as the pain in his chest suddenly grew. 'I have made too many mistakes. Please.' He begged her. He looked at Karl. "She can't hear. They took her ears… They… took…" He crumpled, but strong arms caught him and held him carefully. He looked up into the faceplate of the Valcyr and smiled as consciousness fled again.

* * *

**Later**

Olim hurt when he woke. He hurt worse than before, which was saying something. But he also felt a draft over bare skin and sighed. He could hear medical equipment around him.

"Not dead." Olim said sadly.

"Yet." A sour voice spoke from nearby and Olim turned to see the Loki from before watching him. He knew this Loki even without the Snipetron sniper rifle that the Tenno carried. The Lato he preferred was aimed at Olim's head and there was exactly zero chance for the sniper to miss at this range.

"Aeron." Olim said with another sigh. "I thought you were a better shot than that." He looked around and yes, he was in the medical bay of a Tenno dojo, probably Karl's. He wore a patient gown and was strapped to the bed. His captors were taking no chances. He could feel a bandage on his chest so he probably wouldn't die. "Should have killed me."

"I didn't shoot you." Aeron said with a sneer in his voice. "If _I_ had, you wouldn't have gotten up."

"Great." Olim said with feeling. "So… Interrogation? Or just torture for the fun of it?"

"We are not like you, traitor." Aeron snapped. "We don't do it because we _can_."

"No." Olim replied. "You do it because it makes you feel better. Go ahead. Hurt me."

"Don't tempt me, traitor." Aeron said with a snarl. "You hurt my wife and nearly killed our kid. Don't tempt me."

"Yes, I did." Olim agreed, closing his eyes. "And anything I say will be ignored or misinterpreted, so…" He shut his mouth and lay back.

"You are no innocent." Aeron declared.

"I never said I was." Olim agreed. "Despite what many of you may think, I have never lied to you. Not about to start now. Is Raven okay?"

"Why?" Aeron asked, suspicious.

"Because she has been through enough already." Olim snapped right back. "I don't remember her from…before. I do remember the name. But never mind." He said with a groan. "I am lying."

"I don't care what you or your compatriots say, traitor." Aeron said with a snap. "You are…" The door behind him hissed open and a Nyx warframe entered the room.

"Aeron." The Nyx said in warning. Olim stiffened, he _knew_ that voice.

"Back off, Kori." Aeron said sharply. "I am on shift."

"So am I. And you are emotional." Kori replied. "Tell me I lie. If you are going to blame someone, Aeron, blame _me!_" She snapped and the tension in the room seemed to skyrocket. "I was here too."

"Kori, no." Olim said into the sudden silence. "Karl had reason to…doubt my faithfulness before this last mess. Aeron has a perfect right to his anger."

"I am not saying he doesn't." Kori said reasonably. "I am angry too, with myself and with Grina. But that _doesn't_ change the fact that Aeron is emotional and should not be when he is on guard duty. Or you could very well push him into killing you before we have the answers we need." Aeron stared from Kori to Olim and back. Kori scoffed. "Olim isn't an idiot, Aeron. Just…impulsive at times. Of course, he is not the only one. Alicia shouldn't have shot him."

"She shouldn't have _missed_." Aeron snapped.

"Our orders are to keep him alive for interrogation. Get out." Kori snapped. "Or do I have to get Karl?" Aeron snarled, jerked to his feet and stalked out the door. Kori sighed as the door hissed shut. "Goading him is stupid, Olim." Olim did not respond and Kori sighed. "Olim, talk to me. What the _hell_ were you thinking? We were all in enough trouble and you had to tell the Lotus to _shove it_?"

"I didn't say that." Olim said softly. "She ordered me to abandon a sister in pain." Through slitted eyes he watched Kori sit. "I told her I couldn't do that."

"We will have the truth out of you, Olim." Kori said softly, sadly. "Don't resist."

"I have nothing to hide." Olim replied. "Go ahead, do what you will. Not like I can stop you." Tenno knew how to keep other Tenno from suicide.

"Olim, please." Kori pleaded. "Just tell us what we need to know."

"I have told you everything I know. And I bet you interrogated me some before I woke fully." Kori jerked and Olim made a face. "Figured. Good thing I am a _renegade_." He snapped. "Treating _real_ Tenno like that is bad. Luckily it is only _me._ I hope you are not treating Raven like this."

"Raven…" Kori said slowly. "…refuses to communicate with us." Olim stiffened, his eyes going wide. "We gave her writing materials and she demands to see you. That is all she does. Well, that and doodle pretty pictures."

"What?" Olim asked, confused. "Why?"

"Like I say, we have no idea." Kori shrugged. "She refuses to do anything. So we need to find out why she is acting this way. What you did to her."

"What _I_ did to her?" Olim could barely believe his ears. "I _talked_ to her, Kori. That is all." He paused. "Well, I wrote things on the floor and she replied the same way." He clarified.

"But you _did_ communicate with her." Kori said softly.

"Somewhat." Olim said with a sigh. "Look, she is a mess. She woke from cryo in a Corpus cage. Have you _seen_ what they did to her?" Kori gulped and he nodded. "You have."

"What did you say to her?" Kori demanded.

"She asked about the world we live in now." Olim said quietly. "I told her I was a renegade. She didn't ask why." He paused. "Odd that." He mused.

"Not so odd." Kori replied with a sigh. "Considering _she_ was one too."

"_What_ did you say?" Olim felt a faintness that had nothing to do with injury.

"Raven." Kori said sadly. "Last Tea Mistress of the Tenno Knarlist Party. Outspoken critic of the Royal House. Convicted of being a Sentient spy." Olim was shaking his head, stunned. "You don't remember?" Kori asked.

"Knarlist… I remember…some. Now that you have brought it to my mind." Olim said faintly. "She refused to defend herself in court. She was convicted on hearsay evidence. She was remanded to the custody of the Warriors. There was no proof. If she had defended herself, she wouldn't have been convicted. I remember my Master commenting how perfectly she seemed to have been set up."

"Olim…" Kori said in warning. "They found a Sentient transmitter in her house. She was a spy. They could have shot her. Instead, they took her to the front lines to die fighting. And then she survived the Collapse." She shook her head.

"And then the Corpus found her and gave her torments that might have given even the _Sentients_ pause." Olim said with a snarl. Kori looked at him and he snarled at her. "Do whatever you are going to do, Kori. What am I going to do? Spit on you? _Bleed_ on you?" He demanded.

"I am sorry, Olim." Kori said as the door opened again and two forms in surgical garb entered the room. "We need to know what you know."

"And the fact that certain parties will enjoy seeing me _scream_ is just a bonus." Olim said bitterly as his head was strapped down and a menacing looking machine was swung over it.

"It's not like that, Olim." Kori said firmly.

"You keep telling yourself that." Olim said with a grimace as energy started to play across his skull. "Whatever…ugh…" He grunted as pain started deep inside his head. "Whatever helps you sleep, Kori. I am lost… I know… this…" The pain was coming in waves now. "Just… give… Raven a chance…"

Then all he could do was scream.

* * *

"I am sorry, Olim." The voice came through the waves of nausea that seemed to be all that Olim could sense. It was fading and the pain was rising. Kori sounded abject now. "I am so, so sorry…"

"Sure… you are…" Olim said with a wince as he dry heaved again. They hadn't just looked at his time with Raven, they had scanned _all_ of his memory. Accessed parts he had blocked away for good reason. Parts that made him sick just in memory. The medics were very good. The first time he had lost control of his stomach, they had suctioned out his mouth before he could aspirate any of it. Then they had suctioned what little was left in his stomach. "Are we _done_? Can you kill me now?" He demanded. "Is your honor _satisfied_?"

"No." Another, deeper voice replied. Karl.

"What more do you _want_ from me, Karl? How much more will you make me suffer?" Olim screamed. "_I told you everything. Just do it!_"

"We can't kill you." The master of the clan said formally. "We have wronged you. _I_… have wronged you."

"Just… End it." Olim had no strength to resist as hands worked around him. He stiffened as… the straps holding him to the bed were removed. "I am…nothing. Meaningless. Give… Give Raven a chance… That is _all_ I ask." He managed to grate out past the pain in his head.

"We are. She wants to talk to you." Karl said calmly. "We are bringing her. Amelia, help him."

"I will." Another abject female voice said from nearby. Gentle hands eased him into a sitting position. "Easy, Olim. Easy…" He was shivering with both fear and humiliation. "I am sorry. We are sorry. None of us knew… what Nicholas did to you…"

Olim stiffened at that. He had buried the memory deep, so deep. The humiliation of being cornered in his family's home by renegades that he hadn't known _were_ renegades, then beaten unconscious over the dead bodies of his sister and father. Waking in captivity. Tormented and worse. Then left to be found by a Tenno patrol, a shivering, broken wreck of what had been a Warrior. A statement by Nicholas to the Tenno as a whole. A Tenno family slaughtered, the sole survivor broken. Small wonder Olim had taken the shot when he had seen Karl fighting the arch traitor. Honor duel or no honor duel, few wanted Nicholas dead more than Olim did. But he had buried his past too well and none had known why.

"I am so sorry, Olim." Amelia said, her voice breaking. "To see it was bad enough…"

"_Leave me alone!"_ Olim snapped, recoiling from her hands. "Just… leave me alone!"

"Olim, you are not alone." Amelia said, trying to soothe. "I know the feelings well. I… Please, let me help…"

"You have friends, a _family_…" Olim snapped as she tried to ease his limbs. "They… They killed mine in front of me while I lay _helpless_… If you are not going to _kill me_, then leave me _be!_" He snapped, jerking away from her touch again. He couldn't move far and his head felt like a Gorgon was firing inside, but he tried. She let him go.

"Olim, what they did to you was horrible beyond belief." Karl said softly. "I knew what they did and why. I was hunting them. I didn't know it was _you_. You changed your name. I understand now why you shot Nicholas. I would have done the same."

"_Go do whatever the __**hell**__ you do!_" Olim screamed. "_I hate you! I hate you __**all!**_"

"And we have _earned_ it." Karl said sadly. "Amelia, Kori… Go."

"But, Sensei…" Amelia protested, and then she gave a small cry. "Olim… I am sorry."

Then the door hissed shut and Olim was alone with his freshly exhumed memories of horror. But only for a moment. The door hissed again and movement came close. An armored hand touched Olim's arm, but he was too wrapped up in his horrid memories to react. A warm mass sat down beside him, then an arm was around his shoulder and he was crying in pain and grief as Raven held him.

After several minutes, he stopped. As he opened his eyes, a hand with a writing pad appeared in front of him.

'I didn't know.' Raven had written. Olim stiffened and wrote quickly.

'Did he make you watch?' Olim demanded.

'No.' Raven replied and Olim relaxed. 'One came and wrote what they had seen as soon as they saw. I remember hearing about the incident. That was the main reason why, when Nicholas' scum came to me begging an alliance after I had been sentenced, I fought his people and drove them away. I may have been a renegade, but I was _nothing_ like him.' The arm around Olim gave a squeeze.

'You were loyal opposition. A Tenno who disagreed with the government, but legally.' Olim wrote. 'I am sorry.'

'For?' Raven asked.

'I don't know.' Olim wrote. 'Maybe everything? There is so much I have done that I could have done differently. That I _should_ have done differently. And now, matters are worse.'

'The world has changed, Olim.' Raven wrote. 'Tenno will change to meet it. Perhaps you and I can find a purpose in this new world. Or at least find a path to do _some_ good before we fall.'

'I am tired, Raven.' Olim wrote. 'I am so tired.'

'I understand.' Raven replied in writing. 'Rest, Tenno. We have both been abused and survived. Maybe it is time we both started living again.'

"I don't know how." Olim wrote carefully as sleep reached up to claim him. 'Do you?'

'No.' Raven replied. 'We will find a way. Tenno survive. It is what we do.'

"If I still _am_ Tenno…" Olim said as he slipped into sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**To Tenno or not to Tenno**

This time when Olim woke, he was in a standard dojo room. Occasionally, he had spent time in Tenno dojos, but not very long. He…did not fit with normal Tenno, if there was such a thing. He took a moment to check himself and found his chest wound nearly gone. What had been a deep hole in his upper left chest was now a red circle and he knew even that would fade. He looked around and found a Tenno bodysuit nearby with boots. Without looking, he knew it as his size. He did not put it on, he just sat on the bed.

"If you want to walk around the dojo _naked_, you can." A voice came as the door opened. "But people will talk." Kori came to stand in the door. She wore her warframe, but he noticed a collar on it that he hadn't before. A neutralizer. It would inhibit her powers unless authorized and if she tried to run, it would knock her unconscious or worse.

"Trust only goes so far, I see." Olim said, not moving.

"We gave them no reason to trust us, Olim." Kori said sadly. "And many reasons not to. How is the head?"

"Still attached." Olim replied with just a trace of the anger he felt.

"Pain, nausea?" Kori asked. Olim shook his head and she sighed. "Olim, we screwed up, we all know this. Even Aeron… _Aeron_ was aghast at what we saw. We want to make it right."

"The _only_ thing you screwed up was not killing me." Olim said quietly. "I am a traitor and a renegade. Death is the punishment."

"You helped a sorely hurt sister." Kori said sadly. "You were so patient, so careful. You did everything you could and then Alicia _shot_ you!" Kori could not be faking the outrage in her tone now. She shook her head. "Olim, Brianna and Amelia want to talk to you. They specialize in mental traumas. They can help you."

"And if I don't _want_ help?" Olim asked softly. Kori recoiled a bit.

"You want to die." Kori said evenly. "I do understand that. But Olim, if you die… Then Nicholas and his scum _win_. Even after they are dead, they _win_."

"They have already won." Olim said quietly. Then he was flung backwards as an open hand slapped him across the face. He slammed into the wall and then down to the bed, holding his jaw in both hands. It felt like the front of his face was about to fall off, but then again, when one got slapped by a _warframe_…

"Oh!" Kori exclaimed. "Damn it, Olim. Stop trying to make me angry!" She was at his side, her hands gentle as she examined his face. "You want me to kill you and I _won't_." She looked at the ceiling. "I need a medic. _Not_ Alicia!" She called.

"Don't bother." Olim managed to grate out, trying to extricate himself from her hands.

"Don't move." Lori snapped as she held him carefully with one hand. "I _will_ knock your stubborn butt out." A contact stunner appeared in her free hand. Olim sighed and relaxed in place.

"What the hell?" The voice was familiar. "Kori?" Olim looked up to see Brianna enter the room, medical gear in hand.

"I slapped him. He is pushing us to kill him, Brianna." Kori said with a snap. "I'll stay close just in case he tries to take you hostage or something equally dumb." Olim did not react as Brianna knelt down beside the bed and pulled a medical scanner from her bag. "Do you _really_ think you are the only one with horrors in your past, Olim?" She demanded.

"Kori." Brianna said quietly. "Calm down." Olim did not move as the medic scanned him and then sighed. "Hairline fracture of the right mandible." She looked at Olim and glared. "Are you going to be stupid or let me fix it?"

"What is the point?" Olim asked through the pain in his mouth. "I am dead. That is what you _do_ to renegades."

"Are you?" Brianna asked coolly. Olim stared at her, confused. "I asked a question, Olim. _Are_ you a renegade?"

"I don't want to be." Olim admitted. "But I could not obey the Lotus' order to run and leave Raven to her fate."

"You were in a _cave_ with an unknown, possibly _insane_ Tenno." Kori said sourly. "What was she _supposed_ to tell you to do? Play some _chess_?" Brianna chuckled but shook her head.

"Why can't you just end me?" Olim demanded. "That is all I am asking! All I want!"

"Because it would be _wrong_." Brianna said quietly. "Olim, _please_. You know about doing the wrong thing. So do I." Olim stiffened as she pulled out a small device and started playing energy across his jaw. "You may not be able to fix your mistakes. I can't _ever_ fix mine. What I did to Kori… to Will… Can't be fixed. Kori is _never_ going to be as she was. Will is _never_ going to get the memories I destroyed back, Olim. Ever." She said, tears starting to fall. "I have to see him, every day, Olim. I have to see my failure. My horror. My mistakes. Please, don't give up. You are not alone."

"I…" Olim was stunned by the sheer pain in her voice. "What do I do? I don't know what to do." He admitted in a small voice.

"What _can_ we do? We go on." Brianna said softly. "It is all we can do. And we need your help."

"_My_ help?" Olim was confused. "What could _I_ possibly help with?"

"Raven is… a mess." Brianna said slowly. "You said it and you were right. We have done what we can, but…"

"But?" Olim prompted her when she did not continue.

"Olim, in order to help her, I need to be able to talk to her." Brianna said with a sigh. "She won't talk to us. She followed me when I got her after… after we scanned you, but now she won't respond at all. I don't really blame her for distrust or fear. Not after what happened when Karl and his people found you both."

"I expected what happened to tell the truth." Olim said with a shrug. "I expected them to kill me."

"It wasn't right." Kori said quietly.

"Right and wrong don't come into it, Kori." Olim said just as quietly. "I attacked Karl's people with you on Grina's orders. I did not -could not- swear to any leader after being booted from Jasmina's clan. I swore to Grina because she gave me no choice, but… Small wonder they don't trust me. I cannot trust myself. Even the mind link we shared… I couldn't trust."

"I know. For what it is worth, Olim…" Kori said quietly. "You have _my_ trust. We need you." The stunner vanished back into her pocket. "You can talk to Raven. She talks to you and no one else. If… If she does have another personality buried in her mind, we need to find out. Soon." Olim did not flinch. They had pulled out every nuance of his conversations with Raven during the mindprobe. He could still see every bit of what they had pulled out. Every. Single Thing.

"Collar?" Olim asked softly as he sat up.

"No. You don't have a warframe anymore." Kori said sadly. "The pieces of yours were… unsalvageable. You will be under full time surveillance, but… No collar."

"I figured it was junk." Olim said with a frown. "Funny… I never liked the Ash. It was just what was available when I…" He slumped a bit.

"When you got out of the hospital." Brianna finished for him. He nodded. She laid a hand on his arm and he tried not to flinch. "Olim, this is going to be rough. It has been rough for _us_ and _we_ swore to Ric."

"I can't…" Olim said slowly. "I cannot swear to anyone. Not now. Maybe not ever. Grina took me in and gave me a place even without a full oath. And we know what happened. I am a screw up, Brianna, Kori. It is all I am. All I have been since…" He trailed off and looked at the floor. Ever since his personal bout with horror. The feelings rose again and his gorge rose with them.

"Olim, we _can_ help. Amelia and I can help you." Brianna said, her tone gentle. "But you have to want to get better. If you don't, then we can talk until we are blue in the face. Kori can take control of your mind…" Kori snarled in negation at that, but subsided at Brianna's glance. "…or others can _beat_ you until their arms fall off and it won't make _any_ difference. If you don't _want_ to get better, you _won't_."

"I don't know what I want." Olim admitted.

"We can help you find out." Brianna said soberly. "It won't be easy or quick. But we can help you. If you want to. If you let us."

"Or?" Olim asked softly.

"Or you will be locked up in a small room for the rest of your natural life." Brianna said just as quietly. "You will be fed and tended, but you will never leave the room." Olim shuddered at that and Brianna nodded. "You have a right to your anger. We screwed up. None of us knew, Olim." To his surprise, she hugged him. "Jasmina is… pretty upset."

"Not her fault." Olim replied.

"She blames herself." Kori said sadly. "We blame ourselves and you blame _your_self. What happened to you is _not_ your fault. The one whose fault it is, is _dead_. Will you let us help you, brother? And help us help Raven?"

"Help Raven? Yes. Help myself? I don't know if I want to." Olim said after a moment. "This is… I have been this way for so long. It feels wrong to think any other way." Brianna and Kori just looked at him and he sighed. "What do you need me to do?"

"We want to get better scans of Raven's injuries." Brianna said with a nod. "To do that, we will need to take parts of her warframe off, but…" She trailed off as Olim hissed.

"Her warframe is fused to her body." Olim said with a grimace. "Even _I_ could see that."

"Parts of it, yes." Brianna agreed, her face sick. "We want to help her, but to do that, we need to talk to her. And since you are the only one she talks to…" She shrugged.

"Right." Olim said with a nod. "Give me minute to get dressed." He rose and reached for the bodysuit.

"Don't push yourself too hard, Olim." Brianna cautioned as he pulled the suit on. "Your injuries have healed, but we hurt you badly with the scan. If you get headaches, odd flashes of light or nausea, tell us immediately, okay?" She pleaded.

"Even if I am not Tenno anymore, Doctor…" Olim said quietly. "…pain and I are old friends."

"The only one who can decide that about you is _you_, Olim." Kori said stoically. "No one else can take it from you." Olim paused in pulling on his boots as he heard the sincerity in her voice. Her voice held a grim edge now. "And if anyone were to try? Well… Karl would kill them. As upset as we are… He is quietly _furious._"

"I see." Olim said as he finished dressing even though he didn't really understand. "Where to?"

"Meal first, then we go see Raven." Brianna said with a nod. "I don't… I don't know if she even sees us. She doesn't acknowledge us."

"You gotta remember, doc…" Olim said softly. "If what I remember about her is true… She was convicted. She was sentenced to death. She accepted her death. So… She is in limbo of sorts now. Not even counting what the Corpus did to her."

"Wait. If she accepted her death… Then how did she get into Cryo?" Kori asked, curious. "If she had accepted her death, why did she work so hard to survive?"

"Accepting death and _dying_ are two completely different things." Brianna said with a sigh. "I accepted death when Will appeared on Europa. I was ready to die and he didn't kill me. It was…jarring."

"Oh." Kori sounded very lost and alone for moment. "I had…forgotten…"

"It's okay, Kori." Brianna said sadly. "It was… bad." She slumped for a bit and then shrugged. "We didn't go through what you did, Olim. But it was bad."

"I don't deny it." Olim said with a frown. "How… How _do_ you deal with such things?"

"We talk about them." Briana said quietly. "Dissect the situation in detail. Then we discuss our feelings. It can be very rough." She gulped. "The hoods help a lot, but we have to conserve those." Olim nodded, he had encountered the bio-tech hoods that allowed people to share surface thoughts. Those had been the whole reason that Grina had sent Kori and him into Karl's dojo.

"I thought you got the blueprints." Olim said as the group paused at an elevator. "Can't you make more?"

"We _can_." Brianna agreed. "Whenever the medical establishment gets off their duffs and _lets_ us." Olim's eyes went wide at that and Brianna sighed. "They don't like the idea of Orokin tech out of their control. The 'sharing' faded within a week, but they are worried about overdoses or addiction..."

"Or that someone might put those _quacks_ in the secure psyche unit out of their _cushy_ jobs!" Kori snapped, irate. Olim stared at her and she gulped. "Sorry. I am a bit… um… upset with them still."

"I'll say. But you are much better." Olim looked askance at Brianna's words and the doctor laughed. "She has made a lot of progress." The doc admitted as the elevator opened. "She used to punch holes in the walls."

"Miguel asked me to stop doing that since he had to fix them." Kori said primly. "I like Miguel." Olim shook his head and then froze as the door opened and another Tenno in a warframe stood there. The Trinity didn't move to let them pass. Brianna and Kori pushed by her and Olim followed, not looking left or right. Only when they had passed two doors did Kori let out a breath. "I thought Alicia was off on a mission?"

"So did I." Brianna said with a grimace. "That girl…" She sighed. "She overreacted. Karl read her the riot act even before you all got back. You were not armed."

"I don't blame her, actually." Olim said with a sigh. "Part of me wishes she had hit me square." The other two looked at him, and he shook his head. "But the rest of me is happy she didn't."

"Good." Brianna said with a smile. "I don't know about you, but I am hungry." Olim nodded and they entered a small room that was set up as a mess hall. He and Brianna took trays of food from a wall dispenser and sat down at the sole table. A girl in Tenno robes was sitting nearby and reading a datapad as she ate. "Karen. Studying I see." Brianna said with a smile.

"Advanced ballistics." The girl said, turning to smile at the three. Her smile did not change as she saw Olim, but her eyes were sad. "One of these days I will manage to get it down pat. For now? I have to study."

"Don't forget to sleep." Brianna said with a trace of caution. "I know you are eager, but don't push too hard."

"I won't." Karen said with a nod. Then she looked straight at Olim, examined him with her eyes and smiled. "Good to see you, Olim."

"You too… Karen…" Olim said, surprised.

"You are not alone, Olim." Karen said quietly, laying her pad down as she finished her meal. "The one who hurt us both is dead and gone. If you want to talk, I am here." She finished her food, picked up her tray and took it to the disposal slot. Then she reclaimed her pad and left without another word. Olim, stunned, turned to look at Brianna and Kori, but both of them looked just as stunned.

"Do I want to know?" Olim asked slowly as he ate.

"When Karl took this place…" Brianna said slowly. "He found her here. She had been…taken." Olim froze, a bite halfway to his mouth. "And whatever you can imagine, it was worse because they wanted her to breed for them and she couldn't."

"I see." Olim said slowly, then at the bite mechanically. He shook his head slowly when he had swallowed. "I don't know how I feel about that. Angry. Sad…" He sighed. "She is human. We are supposed to protect humans."

"She _was_." Kori replied softly. "Not anymore." Olim thought about that and then nodded. "She is Aeron's apprentice and downright _scary_ with a sniper rifle."

"I don't doubt it." Olim replied with a shudder. Aeron was scary enough. Anyone who could keep up with him? He finished his meal and waited for the others. Kori wasn't eating, but then again, she was in her warframe, so didn't need sustenance. Brianna as polishing off the remnants of her meal. "Is she…okay?" He stiffened as another voice answered him.

"Karen is about as far from okay as it is possible to be and function. Btu she is managing." Aeron said as he entered the small meal hall. He walked to where Olim sat and held out his hand. "I am sorry." He said simply.

"I hurt your wife and kid." Olim said with a shake of his head. "I don't blame you for being angry."

"Actually you didn't." Aeron said with a shrug. "A fact that was pointed out to me, loudly. I don't mind making mistakes if I can fix them. I made one." He left his hand hanging.

"I don't think you did." Olim said with a sigh, but he took the hand and shook it. "But apology accepted."

"When you get the chance, check out the range." Aeron said with a nod. "I can set up anything you like."

"You trust me with _firearms_?" Olim asked, incredulous. He was not expecting Kori and Brianna to laugh sourly. "What?" He demanded.

"Aeron doesn't trust _anyone_ with firearms, Olim." Kori said with a smirk in her voice. "He doesn't even trust his own _wife_! The security systems will knock anyone with unauthorized weapons out cold without warning."

"_Is_ it paranoia when they are all out to get us?" Aeron asked, unfazed by Kori's words.

"No." Olim replied. "I could probably use a refresher. When the docs let me out of their clutches, I will be in touch."

"Rifle or pistol?" Aeron asked calmly.

"Akimbo pistol, preferably." Olim said with a nod. Aeron nodded as well and then left in silence. "Okay, _that_ was a surprise." Olim admitted.

"He may be scary, Olim." Kori said with a nod. "But he is fair." Brianna finished her meal and Olim rose with her to dispose of his tray. "Now…"

"Raven." Olim said with a nod.


	6. Chapter 6

**Quoth the Raven…**

Olim followed the pair of female Tenno through the dojo, his mind whirling. Aeron had been the most overtly hostile of Karl's people that they had met so far and to have him walk up and apologize. He really hadn't expected that. What was worse was how it made him feel. He felt…cheated somehow. He wanted to be angry. Well, he _was_ angry. But it was very hard to stay angry when everyone was saying he was right. He…wasn't used to people saying that. He had been a screw up for so long…

The trio passed through the dojo corridors quietly. Finally Brianna and Kori stopped outside the door to what looked like regular living quarters. Olim looked around, confused.

"She isn't a prisoner." Brianna said quietly. "We have her under surveillance, but then again, we all are. We are very worried about her, especially since she will not talk to any of us." She made a face. "Well, respond to our writing."

"What do you want me to do?" Olim asked with a sigh.

"Talk to her." Kori said with a nod. "That is all. Ask her if she can talk to our medical personnel. We want to help. We really do." She pleaded as she handed him a holo pad that could be written on and have said writing projected on any flat surface. "We will be watching, but we won't come in with you. We want to help, not get her to withdraw even more than she has." Olim grimaced but then nodded. "If you need help…" She trailed off as Olim grinned sourly.

"I'll scream loud." Olim promised and made for the door. It opened in front of him and he stepped into… wonder.

The room had stared out as the same kind of bare bones living compartment as he had woken in. A bed, a chair, and a desk were the sole furniture. A small sanitation facility would provide for Tenno not in warframes to keep clean. That was normal. The myriad of drawing on what looked to be honest to goodness paper were not. He stared around, amazed. Each drawing was done in line work on the paper and each looked to be unique. He saw architecture, flora fauna, people that he didn't recognize, warframes, weapons, all kinds and sorts of things with no discernable rhyme or reason. But they were all good. He was no art specialist, but all of the work was good. Raven sat on the bed, her warframe's legs curled up underneath her, a piece of paper laid out on a pad in front of her and a pen slowly tracing on the paper.

Olim did not want to startle her, so he moved to the side and waited. After a few moments, she looked up and froze, her pen stopping in mid stroke. He bowed to her formally and held up the pad that Kori had given him. He saw a twin to it sitting untouched at the other end of the bed. He slowly and carefully typed on his screen.

'Raven'. He held out the display, not that she really needed him to. She could likely read such small print from a kilometer away with her warframe sensors. She just stared at him. 'Are you all right?' He asked in writing, worried. The warframe on the bed did not respond and Olim started to feel very alone. He shook his head and knelt on the floor, consciously placing his head below hers. 'Am I communicating with Raven?' He inquired.

The female Tenno on the bed slowly shook her head and Olim bit back several foul curses. This wasn't Raven, this was the 'other' that Raven had feared.

'May I know your name?' Olim asked, keeping his typing slow and careful. He was fully aware of the warframe scrutinizing him and his own vulnerability. The other looked at him without moving for several long seconds and then nodded. He let out a slow breath and raised a hand to point at the bed. The female Tenno turned her hand and then jumped a little, as if seeing the pad for the first time. Maybe she was. 'You can type on that and communicate that way.'

He sat and waited while she thought, then did not react as she reached out slowly to take the pad on the bed. She picked it up and turned it on. She typed and then turned the screen to him.

'Leave.'

Olim felt as if he had been punched in the gut. He bowed his head, but then started typing.

'I can't do that. You are hurt. You need help. The medical personnel want to help.' He showed the sentences to her and froze as she jerked to her feet. She was obviously upset as she paced back and forth. He had no doubt that if she could speak, she would be cursing. He typed again, slowly. 'I don't want to see you hurt any more than you have been. I want to help. Please, let me help." He pleaded in writing.

On seeing that, the Valcyr froze in place, her body suddenly quivering. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what was going on and then, it clicked. She was _crying!_ Olim rose to his feet, fully aware of the murderous claws on the warframe's wrists and toes. He ignored them as he stepped closer. He stopped as she backed up.

'I want to help.' He wrote and underlined. Then he waited. She seemed uncertain. She started typing, then stopped, erased what she had written and then typed again.

'You cannot.' The other finally showed him.

'Let me –us- try?' Olim begged. 'You are hurt, badly. Our enemies hurt you. They used you for their evil. But you are a sister. You are kin.'

'I am nothing.' The other wrote and Olim felt his stomach falling. 'A ghost of a fool. Nothing more.' She froze as Olim snarled. Maybe she couldn't hear him, but she had to see his facial expression.

'You are far more than that.' Olim typed when he was sure he was calm enough type coherently. 'The other you is scared of you. I am not.'

'You should be.' The female Tenno typed with a snap. 'I am a monster.'

'So am I.' Olim retorted. She shook her head, but he wasn't done. 'Sister, I do not know what they did to you. I know why they did it.' She tensed and he nodded. 'The Corpus wish to use our strengths to conquer their enemies. They are the fools, sister. They have no idea at all what they are playing with. They have found bits and pieces of Orokin technology and think those bits make them mighty. What they do not know is the dangers that await them. We know, sister.' The other nodded slowly and Olim took a deep breath before typing again. "What happened to you is horrible. And it will happen again, to other unsuspecting kin if we cannot stop it.' She shook her head and he looked at her.

'This…' She paused and then started typing again. 'I was a failure. I could not be controlled. They came to kill me and I killed them and escaped, but I knew the masters would continue their horrors, their 'Zanuka'.' Olim nodded.

'They did.' Olim agreed. 'We are trying to stop it.'

'You are trying to stop what they did to me?' The female Tenno asked after a moment.

'Yes.' Olim replied.

'I wondered why the ones who kept me here left me alone. Why they gave me paper.' The female wrote slowly. 'I cannot hear. They-' Her typing stopped as Olim rose and stepped close. 'No!' she pleaded on the pad.

'What is your name, sister?' Olim asked her, his face sad, but firm.

'I don't have one.' The other typed, her posture dejected. 'I am nothing. I am so angry. I hurt you and then you helped me. I saw you shot for me and I am always so angry. I don't want to hurt you." She pleaded.

'Then don't.' Olim typed on his own pad. He held his arms out and waited. The battered warframe slowly closed the distance until she was standing inside his arms. He slowly closed them and held her as her body wracked with sobs that she could never express. Then she jerked in his arms and he released her to retreat a step. She stared at him and then at her hand with the pad. She brought it up and typed fast.

'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, OLIM?' The writing seemed to leap at him from the page as she fell back another step.

'Hello Raven.' Olim typed, a sad smile on his face. 'Good to see you.'

'"Hello Raven"? _**HELLO RAVEN?**_' The other wrote, her hand flying. 'Are you _completely_ out of your _mind_?' She demanded. 'You are not even in a warframe!'

'I am not threat to you or your other part, Raven.' Olim said with a nod. 'She knows that.'

'She is anger, Olim!' Raven nearly snapped the datapad, as hard as she was typing. 'That is _all_ she is!'

'You are wrong, Raven.' Olim replied. 'She is also scared. Of me, of you. Of herself.' He hadn't been sure until he had seen her crying, but somehow, he knew it was the truth.

'Of _**ME?**_' Raven demanded.

'Raven, you are part of her. Part she cannot control.' Olim wrote patiently. 'After what you went through, of course she is scared. I-' He stopped typing for a moment and then sighed. 'I know about feeling helpless while people hurt me. While they… strip pieces from me… while they… do things to me…' He was shaking hard as he typed, barely able to see the pad through his own rage and pain.

"Oh Olim.' Raven wrote after a moment. 'You cannot help me.'

'You do not know that.' Olim wrote. She paused and considered that for a moment and Olim pressed his advantage. 'We both have been abused. We both have been hurt. I think it is high time we both showed that the ones who abused us have not won. At least we can try to.'

'Olim, I am only half of me!' Raven protested, shaking her head.

'I know.' Olim replied, glad that typing didn't allow for squeaks in his voice. 'When she comes back, and I bet she will, I will offer her what I am offering you. A partner in this long, hard road that we will be walking.' She stared at him and he swallowed hard. 'I cannot be a true partner, with what I lost. But I can be here for you. All the parts of you.'

'Genitalia does not make a Tenno, Olim.' Raven replied after a moment. 'It doesn't make you brave or strong or smart.'

'Many thought it did.' Olim replied, heaving in memory. He did not move as Raven stepped close, her free hand coming to touch his arm. "I don't know what is coming, Raven. But if you agree, I will meet it with you. Together, we are stronger than apart.' He laughed a bit and Raven looked at him, obviously able to see his facial expression even if she couldn't hear his chuckle.

'What?' She asked.

'Nothing really.' Olim said with a shrug, but she didn't move and he shrugged again. 'For so long I equated alone with strong. Silly, huh?'

'When all you had was your own strength and skill?' Raven typed, her shoulders slumping. 'Small wonder you felt that way.' She shook her head. 'What do we do?'

'The docs want to run some scans, see if they can repair some of the damage.' Olim typed and did not react as Raven recoiled. 'I know.' He typed.

'That Trinity shot you.' Raven typed fiercely. Olim nodded and she typed again. 'You did nothing and she **shot** you!'

'I had a history with her clan.' Olim explained in writing. 'A bad one. I do not blame her for her reaction.'

'I do!' Raven typed sternly. 'Big tough Tenno, shooting an unarmed being!'

'Raven.' Olim admonished her a bit. 'It's okay.'

'I don't trust her.' Raven retorted. 'Not if she is so quick to shoot before thinking. Reminds me of another Trinity I knew. Always shooting before she thought.'

'For what it is worth, I think the rest of her clan are just as annoyed with her as you are.' Olim wrote with a smile. He sighed. 'Raven, please. Let us try to help?' He begged her. 'Maybe we can't, but please let us try!'

'I am scared of what might happen if she gets loose.' Raven wrote, her hand shaking a bit.

'She won't.' Olim promised her. 'This dojo is very secure.'

'Olim.' Raven typed. 'She nearly got out of the _Orokin_ lockup because they underestimated her. Don't make the same mistake. She is sneaky. She is likely playing on your emotions.'

'Maybe she is.' Olim wasn't so sure. 'But they won't trust either of us near anything critical, I am sure. Wait…' He paused. 'Are you saying she was around **before** you went into cryo?'

'Yes.' Raven said with a wince. 'She was… my temper, but more so. From my earliest recollection, she was my doom.'

'Oh Raven.' Olim shook his head. 'I am sorry.'

'Olim, you cannot take the chance.' Raven typed carefully. 'For all I know, there is _another_ personality inside me that _was_ a spy for the Sentients.'

'That is why you didn't contest the charges.' Olim felt as if he had been sucker punched.

'I didn't know.' Raven admitted. 'I couldn't know. And while I disagreed with much of what the government did, I was no traitor. I couldn't know if I was spying or not.' She bowed her head. Olim shook his head and then reached out slowly to lift her chin so she could easily see what he wrote.

'Raven.' Olim typed. 'We can find out.' She jerked and stared at him. 'But we need your help and your other half's as well.'

'You cannot trust me, us.' Raven typed. Then she went totally still as Olim stepped close to her, reached down with his free hand and pulled her limp hand up and around until it circled his throat. It stayed there when he released it, as if Raven was afraid to move.

'I think I can.' Olim typed with his free hand. She jerked away, backing fully to the wall before she stopped and he let her go.

'You are CRAZY!' Raven nearly broke the pad again. She jerked and this time, he could see it happen. When the flustered and frightened Raven was suddenly replaced by a fierce tenseness, a readiness to run and strike.

'Hello.' Olim typed on his pad. 'I upset her.'

'So I feel.' The other side of Raven's personality said. If writing could be dry, this was. 'Do you have a _death wish_, Olim of the Tenno?'

'For a very long time, yes, Ma'am. I did.' Olim wrote. She paused and stared at him. 'Now? Maybe I have something to live for again.'

'What?' She inquired after a moment.

'Helping you.' Olim typed and then sighed. 'And maybe helping myself in the bargain.'

'How?' She asked, caution in every movement.

'The healers want to do some scans, see if anything can be done for your injuries.' Olim typed and then sighed as she shook her head savagely. 'They know about you and Raven. They want to help.'

'One of those supposed _healers_ shot you.' The other female Tenno typed, slamming the keys hard. 'Then she started trying to make nice to **me**. And then she just retreated and stopped doing anything. I have no idea why. I couldn't hear what they said to each other. I am supposed to trust them?'

'No.' Olim wrote. The other Tenno stared at him, obviously confused. 'Trust has to be earned. But they have promised not to hurt you any further and I will be there.'

'You trust them?' The Valcyr typed her question slowly.

'Not entirely.' Olim admitted. 'But they have been trying to make up for hurting me. And you do need help.'

'I…' For a long moment, she didn't type any more. Then she bowed her head and relaxed herself visibly. 'I trust you, Olim of the Tenno.'

'Please don't.' Olim wrote. She jerked and stared at him. 'Every time people trust me, bad things happen.'

'But you do not do them.' The other Tenno said with a shake of her head. 'You do what you must, when you must. You obey orders.'

'Even when I shouldn't.' Olim agreed. 'Even when I know better. Even when I know it will cause far more problems to obey the orders than not to, I do. Because I am happy being a screw up.'

'No you are not.' The other replied sadly. 'I have only known you a couple of days and I can tell that already.'

'I hope I never disappoint you, sister.' Olim sad sadly. 'May I call a mental specialist in?' The female Tenno shrugged and sat down on the bed again. "Brianna?" His voice sounded loud in the silence that had been near absolute.

The door opened behind him and he felt a presence beside him. But the voice that sounded was not Brianna.

"Don't move." Alicia said sharply as Raven suddenly stiffened on the bed and something round and cold dug into the back of Olim's neck. A pistol barrel.

"She can't hear you." Olim said with a gulp, leaving his hands were they were.

"She is lying. It is what she _does_." Alicia said with a snap. "Go ahead, traitor! Try it!" She said with a growl as Raven slowly moved, but…

'No!' The projected words slammed up on the wall. 'Let him _go_, Alicia!' Olim paused. How did Raven know Alicia's name?

"I don't think so, traitor." Alicia snapped. "Go ahead, move and _die_! You should have died a long time ago and-" The sound of a weapon being taken off safe was loud in the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Olim could see Karl's Rhino stepping in there, his Hek shotgun leveled. At _Alicia!_

"Alicia." Karl's voice was cold. "Something you want to tell me? Like why Kori and Brianna are unconscious in the hall?"

Instead of Alicia speaking, new words sprang up on the wall. Impossible words.

'Rhino. Please don't kill my little sister.'


	7. Chapter 7

**Family is fun. Not.**

"_Little_ s_ister?_" Karl actually sounded shocked. A first in Olim's experience. "Ah…"

'Olim!' Raven begged, her writing being projected on the wall. Other than typing, she didn't move. 'What is happening? I can't hear them!'

"Alicia, I am going to type. Shoot if you must." Olim said quietly. He focused on the pad, not the round thing still pressing on the back of his neck. 'The Rhino is Karl, master of this clan. He is upset with Alicia.' He projected the writing on another wall, careful not to move. 'Alicia is your sister?'

'Yes.' Raven wrote. 'Alicia, please. He meant you no harm. Kill me if you must. He has nothing to do with our quarrels!'

"You lie!" Alicia snapped, not moving. "It is what you _do! I bet you can hear everything I say!_"

"She can't hear you, Alicia." Olim said as calmly as he could. "I saw what was left of her face. Her ears are gone."

"Shut up!" The pistol barrel dug in deeper and Olim shut his mouth. "You are a liar too!"

"What about you?" Olim snapped right back. "How did you spin shooting me? Did you say you saw me draw some kind of hidden hideout weapon? Or was it just nerves?"

"Olim, be calm." Karl said quietly. "I need you to translate for Raven. Alicia, stand down. Now."

"You can't possibly…" The pistol barrel in Olim's neck wiggled a bit as another form moved around Olim to stand between Raven and Olim. Will's Excalibur Prime faceplate was closed, but his posture was resigned. He did not have any weapons, but he didn't need them. "Will, move!"

"No." Will said calmly. "This isn't like you, Alicia. You don't act this way, attacking unarmed people without warning. First Olim and now Kori and Brianna. What is _wrong_ with you?"

"What is _wrong?_" Alicia demanded. "_Everything_! She was supposed to be _dead!_ Dead and gone! Like all traitors! Forgotten!"

"Alicia." Karl said slowly. "Stand down. Now."

"You don't know what she will do, Karl!" Alicia snapped. "You don't!"

"No, I don't." Karl agreed. "And right now I don't _care_. You _shot_ Olim without provocation when we found him. You did _not_ go on your mission. You _stunned_ Brianna and Kori. And now you are threatening another guest of our clan without explaining yourself. Alicia." His voice held dreadful force now. "Stand. Down." He commanded.

"I… I can't." Alicia said, her voice nearly a sob. "I promised…"

"Alicia." Karl said softly, but still with dreadful force. "Don't make me shoot you." Everything seemed to freeze as Raven rose from her seat. No, everything _did_ freeze! Paralysis! Olim struggled, but the Valcyr's power held him tight.

'I am sorry, Olim.' Raven's writing appeared on the wall behind her as she stepped close to him. 'Not for me.'

She shoved him aside as the Paralysis faded and the gun at his back went off in a rapid burst. The bullets missed him, but… Olim screamed as Raven's warframe took all three shots from the Sicarus and she staggered. Ignoring the sudden struggle behind him, ignoring Will moving to help subdue Alicia, ignoring _everything_… Olim grabbed Raven as she fell, the terrible wounds in her chest not healing as they should. What had Alicia's pistol been loaded with?

"Raven!" Olim cried. "_Raven!_" Her faceplate retracted and her ruined face was smiling sadly. Then it went slack. "No!" He screamed again. "No…" He pleaded, but the still form in his arms did not move.

"She is not dead!" Alicia shouted as the sounds of struggle intensified. "She is a liar! A trickster! It's another of her tricks!"

"Get her _out_ of here!" A familiar female voice snapped and Amelia fell to her knees beside the sobbing Olim. "Olim, let me see."

"Too late…" Olim said, bowing his head.

"You don't _know_ that, Olim! Her warframe is mostly intact!" Amelia snapped. She started her scanner and then another form was near. Aeron in his warframe had taken hold and was pulling Olim from the still Valcyr. Olim tried to hold onto Raven, but Aeron was having none of it. The Loki was gentle, but his pull was strong. Olim fought to stay and then paused as Amelia's face brightened. "I have got life signs. They are faint but I have them. She is still alive, but we need to get her to medical! Now! And keep Alicia _away_!"

"A…Alive…?" Olim begged the room.

"Come on, Olim." Aeron said quietly. "Let Amelia work." Olim slumped, and stopped resisting as the Loki pulled him to his feet and led him from the room.

"What do I do, Aeron?" Olim asked as the Loki guided him down the hall away from where Alicia was swearing up a storm in Will and Karl's grips. Away from where two forms were sitting up with a Mag hovering over both. "Did she manipulate me…? I… I don't know… I don't know what to do…"

"I don't know either, Olim." Aeron said with a sigh. "I am no medic. But… I think talking to Brianna and maybe Kori too will help. They look… as shell shocked as I feel. That wasn't the Alicia I know."

"I can understand her hating _me _after what I did." Olim said with a gulp. "But Raven… Blood sisters?" he asked, half pleading.

"I don't know." Aeron said with a shrug. "Come on, let's work off some stress."

"You don't want me near firearms right now, Aeron." Olim said with a savage grunt.

"Good, because I am not going to let you near any firearms right now." Aeron said with a hint of his old snarkiness. "In." He waved towards a door that opened in front of them. Inside was a track and several exercise machines. Some set up for warframes, others for people outside of warframes. "Run or work out?"

"Run." Olim said with a nod. He moved to the track as the Loki took up position near the door. He started running slowly, trying to forget the helpless feeling that had come when he held Raven's still form. He tried to work past the anger that came, past the horror and sick feelings that whirled around his brain. He barely noticed when another joined him.

"She is alive, Olim." Brianna said, matching his slow pace. "Amelia will keep her that way."

"But?" Olim asked sourly.

"The bullets that hit her damaged a lot, Olim. Alicia's Sicarus was loaded with armor piercing explosive rounds." Olim gulped as Aeron hissed. Brianna said with a sigh. "We are not sure what some of the Corpus crap does. So we have to be very careful to avoid literal landmines until we can find out, maybe remove some of it."

"Corpus do use self-destruct systems in almost all their equipment." Olim agreed. He shook his head. "Why, Brianna? _Why_ did she shoot Raven?"

"I don't know, Olim." Brianna said with a gulp. "But rest assured we are going to find out if we have to mind scan her." She paused as Olim stopped in mid stride.

"No." Olim said flatly.

"Olim…" Brianna said carefully. "Karl is likely to insist."

"Don't." Olim said, his tone halfway between anger and fear. "Whatever was driving her was powerful, Brianna. You know how the mind works. If you try to break past something like that and she resists –which she likely _will_-… What will happen?" Aeron had stiffened where he stood, now he relaxed a little.

"I…" Brianna swallowed and then nodded. "She will kill herself."

"Exactly." Olim said, expelling a breath. "I think… Well… if it were me looking at it… I would need to find out if she and Raven actually _are_ related, then go from there. I… What can I do?"

"Amelia is running a gene scan." Brianna said with a sigh. "We should have an answer soon. As for you? We need to talk."

"So talk." Olim said with a shrug as he started running slowly again. Brianna shook her head and followed.

"What are you feeling, Olim?" Brianna asked after a moment of finding her stride again. "Right now?"

"Helplessness." Olim replied immediately. "Anger. Sadness." He shook his head. "That is mainly what I feel. The rest? It's all jumbled up. I can't make any sense of it."

"Why are you helpless, Olim?" Brianna asked calmly.

"I am no medic." Olim said sharper than he intended and frowned, but then thought hard. "I don't… I was always about running and gunning. Healing things is out of my league. Anger and sadness the same. I couldn't do anything. I hate that feeling. And she was kind to me."

"You did very well with Raven, Olim." Brianna said gently. "I saw a lot until Alicia stunned me. You did fine, even when she shifted."

"Shifted?" This from Aeron.

"Raven has…a split personality, Aeron." Olim said with a sigh. Subterfuge was stupid now. Aeron jerked where he stood. "She was worried that her alternate personality was a spy. That is why she didn't defend herself when she was accused."

"Could it be faked?" Aeron asked, then raised his hands as both Brianna and Olim glared at him as they passed on their lap. "I am only _asking_. I don't understand this stuff. Give me a long range shot and _that_ I can do. Mind stuff is way beyond me."

"Way beyond me too." Olim agreed. "Could it be faked? Sure. Was it? I don't know. Brianna?"

"I… can't be sure." Brianna said with a shrug. "I don't think so, but… If we had scanners on her, we might have been able to tell, but we didn't have anything but the usual surveillance." She paused. "Did we, Aeron?"

"You know Karl won't tell _me_ that." Aeron said sourly. "He might tell _you_, Brianna. Maybe. If you ask for a medical reason."

"Okay…" Olim said slowly. "The way I see it, there are three problems here."

"Only _three_?" Brianna snorted. "Wow." Olim favored her with an old fashioned look and she snickered. But then she shrugged as she ran. "What problems?"

"First… Raven knew Alicia." Olim said with a grimace. "That wasn't faked. Whether they actually are related or not, they knew each other and the relationship was…strained."

"Putting it _very_ mildly." Aeron said with a nod. "But was Alicia going to shoot you or Raven?"

"I don't know." Olim grimaced. "She threatened me to keep me in place, but… I don't know. She shot after Raven's Paralysis faded. She probably squeezed the trigger as soon as she realized what was happening. That would have killed me, but…" He shook his head. "Armor piercing explosive rounds are serious _overkill_ for an unarmored Tenno."

"So she was after Raven all along." Brianna said with a nod. "Then why not shoot as soon as she entered the room? She had to know how Karl and everyone would react when she stunned us. She knows about the security surveillance. She had minutes at best, maybe only _seconds_. Why confront Raven like that?"

"That leads to the second problem." Olim agreed. "Alicia said that Raven was a liar and a traitor. Raven was convicted of spying and sentenced to death. I remember that. How did Raven survive to get into cryo? Who put her in cryo and why?"

"Oooo…" Brianna groaned. "My head hurts. This is getting twisted."

"Aeron?" Olim asked. "Correct me if I am wrong. Spies were shot, yes?" Aeron nodded.

"In wartime, yes." Aeron said, his tone thoughtful. He shook his head. "There wasn't a lot of time for anything else even when the war shifted in our favor. This doesn't make any sense. I vaguely remember the case. Mainly because she didn't defend herself. A lot of us wondered why a Tenno wouldn't defend herself against such charges. Many thought it was a setup of some kind."

"And that leads to the third problem." Olim agreed. "If Raven _was_ a spy, is she still? And if so, for _who_?"

"Okay, _enough_ mind twisting." Brianna slowed and stopped running, her face covered with sweat. "I am _so_ out of shape. Olim, you okay?"

"Chest hurts." Olim said with a grunt as he slowed as well. "But it is a good pain." Brianna snarled at him and he smiled a bit as he stopped near her to let her sweep a medical scanner over him. "I still feel helpless."

"You are not helpless." Aeron said with a nod of approval. "I wouldn't have figured _any_ of that."

"None of it may be true." Olim said with a shrug. "That is the major problem with thinking like a spy. None of us are spies, are we?"

"If we were, we would likely lie." Brianna said with a wince. She shook her head. "You are healing well, Olim, but don't push it too hard."

"Right." Olim agreed. "Now what?"

"Now we try to figure out what the hell is going on." Aeron said with a sigh. "Brianna?"

"I want Olim in Medical in case Raven or her other half wake up. She trusts you." Brianna said with a nod. "And I want to see about some therapy for _your_ problems."

"She trusted me." Olim said with a grimace. "And she shoved me out of the way of the gun. She said 'not for me'…" Olim trailed off. "She didn't want me to die for her? She _knew_ Alicia was going to shoot. So yes, they knew each other. And… she didn't hate Alicia. _Alicia_ hated her."

"If they are siblings; that might explain it." Aeron said with a grunt. "But we cannot assume anything right now. We don't have enough information."

"And why are you being so open with me?" Olim asked suddenly. "I was… I am an enemy."

"_Are_ you?" Aeron asked quietly. "Really?"

"I _was_." Olim said weakly.

"People change." Aeron replied. "Even boneheads like me." He shook his head. "Speaking of, I just got a com. Jasmina wants to talk to you. She will meet you in Medical."

"If she starts getting an attitude again, I am tossing her out on her _butt_." Brianna snapped.

"She won't." Aeron said with smile clear even through his closed faceplate. "Karen and Mori are escorting her. Karl showed her the transcript of Olim's mindscan. She puked."

"Oh." Brianna's expression turned vicious. "Good."

"Brianna…" Olim groaned. "That is mean."

"And your point is?" Brianna asked with a grin. She shook her head. "You would think I would be used to such horrors, Olim." The medic said, bowing her head. "I am not."

"If you took them for granted, you wouldn't be who you are, Brianna." Aeron said with a sigh. "I am cold and they hit me hard. You are one strong willed Tenno, Olim, to survive that and keep going."

"It hurts." Olim said with a shiver. "Even now, it hurts now that I remember it again." He bowed his head and then went still as Brianna laid a hand on his arm.

"The docs who treated you were a bunch of fricking _quacks_." Brianna said with a growl worthy of an Infested. "They shouldn't have let you leave in the condition you were in."

"Physically, I was fine, Brianna." Olim said with a shrug. "And we were at war."

"Wartime or no wartime, physicians are supposed to _heal_, not let half healed people run out to try and get themselves killed. I am not going to let you go without trying to make it better, Olim." Brianna declared. "Fair warning, I am not going to give up on you."

"Warning taken, doctor." Olim said with a sad smile. But as he and Brianna turned to the door, it hissed open and Karl entered the room. The Rhino's walk and posture were furious. "Karl?" Olim asked, worried.

"Olim." Karl said carefully. Both Aeron and Brianna stiffened at his formal tone. "I am ordered to remand you and Raven to 'proper' psychiatric care." He made invisible quotes around the word 'proper'.

"_Sensei!_" Brianna snapped, aghast. "No! Those fools will lock him up and he will go mad. And you know what they will have to do to Raven! I won't let you!" She moved in front of Olim, but Olim laid a hand on _her_ arm.

"You shame me, doctor Brianna." Olim said sadly. "Your courage and dedication to your principles are a wonder to behold. But I will not allow you to throw your life away for me." He looked at Karl. "When?"

"As soon as Raven is stable enough to transport." Karl said with a growl. "I argued, but..."

"Not for me." Olim said with a sigh. He held out his wrists as if for binders.

"No." Karl snapped. "Until they do come for you, you are a _guest_, not a _prisoner_!"

"Karl." Olim said, a tremendous calm settling over him. The calm of a man who knew he was doomed. "It is not your fault. If it is anyone's it is mine."

"I am going to protest." Karl said with a shake of his head. "All the way up the chain of command if I have to." He shook himself. "Raven is in critical condition, she won't be stable enough to transport for a while. We have time."

"Don't get in trouble for me." Olim said quietly. "I am not worth it."

"_We_ disagree, _brother_." Karl said with a growl worthy of an old Earth grizzly bear before he turned and left.

"This… This isn't right…" Brianna sounded nearly in tears. Aeron was shaking his own head.

"Thank you for your concern and care, doctor." Olim said, still calm. "But you know you cannot save everyone."

"No." Brianna agreed. Olim's eyes narrowed as a fierce glint came to her eyes. "But I _am_ going to save you."

"Doc…" Aeron said in warning.

"Aeron." Brianna said slowly. "If they lock Olim up in a small padded room, he goes mad. There is no way those quacks running that house of horrors will try to help him. Out of sight, out of mind. That is their approach to mental problems. He doesn't need to be sequestered! He needs _help_!"

"I can understand that." Aeron agreed. "And the clan helped me when I was lost." He shook himself. "What do you need?"

"Don't do this…" Olim begged. "Don't break the Code. Not for me."

"Oh, we are not going to _break_ the Tenno Code, Olim." Brianna said with a savage smile. "We are going to _use_ it." Olim stared at her and his heart sank.

"Doc…" He warned.

"Trust me."


	8. Chapter 8

**Warping the Rules**

"You have **got** to be kidding." Olim said when he could see again.

The gut wrenching twist had been familiar. Nova wormholes were not for the faint of heart even in a warframe. Out of one? He was very glad Brianna had given him something to curb nausea. They had covered his eyes, he hadn't resisted. Then someone named Lilly had warned him, then… ugh. But this…

It made sense actually. Using a wormhole to get into a secure room made sure he had _no_ idea where the room was or how to get back to it. It had taken a few hours before Brianna had come to Olim's room with instructions that he had complied with. Olim had expected to be brought in to talk to Karl, maybe wrangle some legal aspect. He had not expected _this_.

"Easy, Olim." Brianna sounded as sick as Olim felt. "This maybe the only way."

"Brianna, I am _not_ going to do this!" Olim stated as he stared around the storage room, at all the empty warframes that hung on racks. "Of all the stupid, boneheaded… just plain _dumb_ plans. _Stealing_ a warframe doesn't _work_!" He shook his head and knelt. "And even if it _could?_ I _won't_."

"Olim, please!" Brianna begged him.

"You are setting me up." Olim said quietly, looking at her carefully. "For what?"

"Olim, I explained." Brianna said with a glower.

"No, you pushed me." Olim said with a sigh. "I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do. I assumed you would make a statement, use the letter of Code in some way. But taking a warframe? No… Brianna, I cannot swear to anyone. I…can't…" His voice was small now.

"You don't have to." A familiar voice said from the shadows and Olim went still as an Ember warframe appeared. Jasmina was fully armed but none of her weapons were in hand. "Hello Olim." Olim stared at her, and then at the floor. "I am sorry, Olim. That is official. My clan renders it's apologies." Olim did not respond, just bent his neck as if inviting the death stroke. "Olim…" She chided him.

"Jasmina, I can't swear to you." Olim said sadly. "There is too much… too much history between us. I screwed up too much for you to _ever_ trust me again."

"Olim." Jasmina said kindly. "We are not asking you to."

"What?" He asked, confused. "But…" His eyes went very wide as _Karl_ stepped out of the shadows to stand by Jasmina. The Rhino as also fully armed, but none of his weapons were in hand. "I… I don't understand."

"Brianna's idea is a very good one, Olim." Karl said quietly. "If I had been clear headed after those morons hit me with their bureaucratic stupidity, I might have seen it myself. I wasn't. But she argued well. You are not _stealing_ a warframe, Olim. We are _gifting_ you one."

"But…" Olim's jaw had to be hanging by a thread as far as it fell. "I…"

"Olim, we have _wronged_ you." Jasmina said softly. "My clan, Karl's clan, we have _all_ wronged you. We cannot undo what we did, and truth be told, if we had it to do over, with the same information that we had at the time, we would likely do the same thing again. All we can do is go on, try to fix what we messed up."

"You cannot trust me." Olim said weakly.

"I think we can." Karl said with a shrug. "Despite everything we have done, you have acted with honor. You _did_ have a prior claim on Nicholas. If you had told us that, Jasmina and I would not have reacted as badly when you shot him. Honor duel or no, you had a claim on his life."

"I…didn't remember." Olim said weakly. "I tried to forget."

"You did." Brianna said sadly from where she stood. "And we yanked it back up into your mind." She bowed her head in grief. "I cannot imagine what you went through. But I want to help, and this _will_ help."

"How?" Olim asked, still reeling.

"First and foremost…" Jasmina spoke quietly, but clearly. "As you are, you are vulnerable. If you _have_ a warframe, they _can't_ lock you up. You can be disabled, but not confined like an animal. You can be monitored at all times. While you are within the dojo, you can be controlled." Olim shivered, but did not interrupt. "Second, if we can prove that you are not insane, they cannot touch you."

"And if I am?" Olim asked, not liking the squeak that he heard in his voice.

"You are not." Brianna said quietly. "You have been stressed, far beyond even a normal Tenno's breaking point and you have held firm. You are hurt, wounded sorely in your mind, but you are not lost."

"I feel lost…" Olim said, bowing his head again. "I screw up everything I do."

"Do you know why?" Karl asked softly. But there was an undercurrent to his voice. Rage. But… not directed at Olim!

"No." Olim said with a gulp.

"Nicholas was a master manipulator." Karl said heavily. "He manipulated me and others into following him. He manipulated Serene into denying me when I asked her to marry me." Olim jerked, he hadn't known that. But Karl continued. "And when he went rogue, he intended to draw other Tenno into following him. When he and his people took you, they tried to break you, to turn you to his side. He failed, but not entirely."

"He… he broke… me…" Olim gasped as pain welled up inside him. Humiliation rose with it as his eyes burned.

"He couldn't turn you, so yes, he broke you." Jasmina said sadly. "He hurt you, he mutilated you and then he left you to be found. He knew that they would try to put you back together, but as Karl says, he was a master manipulator. They didn't find all of what he did to you."

"What are you saying?" Olim asked, manifestly against his will. A small human hand found his shoulder and gave a squeeze. "Please don't touch me, I am not safe."

"You are in pain." Brianna's voice was small. "You are hurt and I have made it my life's work to heal such hurts."

"You don't understand." Olim begged her, shying away.

"No, Olim." Karl said heavily. "It is _you_ who does not understand. Yet. And you must if you are going to get past this. You must."

"Get past what?" Olim asked, utterly baffled.

"Get past what Nicholas did to your mind." Jasmina said with a shudder. Olim stared at her and she nodded. "When he had you, he and his scum hurt you physically, but the worst part wasn't physical. He tried to turn you, Olim. Inside your mind." Olim shook his head, horrified and Jasmina bowed her head. "You have to face this, Olim."

"Alone?" Olim hated the trembling in his voice.

"No." Karl said flatly. "My twin brother did this to you. That makes it my responsibility. I would be…honored to stand as your second in this."

"You… I…" Olim was shaking in terror now. "I can't…"

"Karl." Jasmina said quietly. "If Nicholas planned to use Olim, it probably has a trap for you."

"It doesn't matter." Karl said with a shake of his head.

"With all due respect, Karl." Olim said quietly. "It _does._ You are important, needed. I am not."

"Not true." Karl said with a snarl. "And if you will let us help you, you might start believing it." Olim stared at him and Karl shook his head again. "Olim, were you this way, before?"

"I…" Olim paused, trying to control his feelings. "I don't… I think not, but… It isn't clear."

"I know." Jasmina's voice was very gentle now. "And I should have asked. I should have taken you to the shrinks. I knew you had problems, but I ignored them. We all did, from Warlord on down." Olim stared at her as she knelt and…

"No!" He shouted as she drew an Ether Dagger, it's point aimed at her own belly! "Not for me!"

"Our honor as a clan is stained by what we did to you, Olim." Jasmina declared, holding herself ready. "I offer apology."

"Karl, stop her!" Olim begged.

"I can't." Karl said sadly. "She asked permission from her clan leader to expunge the shame and he agreed."

"No." Olim said, jerking halfway to his feet. "Jasmina, no! It is _not_ your fault. Mine! If it is anyone's it is mine!"

"Not yours. You think it is because you were programmed to think that." Jasmina said quietly, bowing her head, only to pause as Olim spoke sharply.

If you take that route, I will follow you. He declared in Old Orokin. Everything in the room stopped as he rose fully to his feet, his eyes flashing. I will not allow a good sister to die for _nothing_!

Brianna was staring from Olim to Karl, to Jasmina, her face ashen. She obviously could not understand what was said, but she knew what Jasmina was trying to do. Jasmina, for her part, seemed just as shocked.

"Olim…" The Ember said softly. "It is my choice."

And this is _mine_! Olim shouted and stepped towards the closest warframe. The Frost opened as he reached it and he jumped inside without a backwards glance. You _better_ be whole when I wake, or I _will_ kick your butt! He snapped.

"_Olim!_" Brianna screamed as he activated the neural link and pain suffused his entire being.

* * *

"Are you finished screaming?" The pleasant voice that came to Olim's ears was familiar, but not. Olim jerked, feeling the Frost's armored skin around him as he spun in place to see… An Ash warframe stood nearby, it's faceplate retracted. It had his face. "Finally. It is about time." The other said with an evil grin.

The pair stood on a white platform over empty space. Much like a Tenno training hologram, but somehow Olim knew this was no simulation.

"So." Olim said, feeling the Frost slowly acclimatize to his body. "Nicholas programmed me."

"That's right, Robert." The Ash smiled as he drew a pair of Ether Swords. "And when I am done, you will serve Nicholas as the spy and assassin you were meant to be."

"Minor problem with that." Olim replied, reaching down and… His hands closed on handles, but he did not recognize them. They snapped into his hand easily and the paired Kama glinted in the odd light. He had never fought with them, but… they felt right.

"Which is?" The other being with his face asked with a friendly grin as he readied himself.

"Nicholas is dead." Olim said, his own teeth baring in a feral grin. "And my name is _Olim_!" The other recoiled and before the Ash could recover from the shock, Olim was on him.

It was like fighting fog. Olim was slow and the other him was fast. Olim took several hits before he adjusted to the heavier armor of the Frost and started fighting back in earnest. But the Ash was never where Olim swung and every time the Ash hit him, rents opened in the Frost's armor. Then the Ash vanished.

"Fool." The words came from nowhere. "How can you fight yourself?"

"Easy." Olim said with a grin and opened a Snow Globe. The different powers came easily to his mind. Was he acclimatizing or remembering? He had used a Frost… before. The Ash appeared in a puff of smoke behind him, but was slowed by the subzero temperature momentarily. Just a moment too long. Olim swung with all of his strength and managed to connect. Both of the Kama slammed into the Ash, cutting deep into the other warframe before the other mental manifestation could dodge, but…

"Ahhh!" Olim screamed as pain ripped through his _own_ chest. The Ash's Ether Swords went flying and the smaller warframe fell to the floor, the Kama blades buried deep. One in the side, one in the back. The Ash tried to rise, but Olim was ready.

"Olim! Stop!" Brianna? Here? Olim slammed the Ash to the deck, both Kama still sticking out of the Ash's body. As it fell Brianna appeared just outside the shimmering white orb. "You _can't_ kill it! _It is part of you!_" She screamed.

"What? Oh." Olim grunted as he swung both fists down at the Ash who was trying to crawl away. Pain erupted through his back as he slammed the Ash's spine to the floor again. "Then what am I supposed to _do?_" He demanded sourly as he grabbed both handles in preparation to pull them out of the Ash. From the positioning, the blades would cause a lot of damage coming out. Maybe fatal damage.

"You have to face it, Olim!" Brianna said, horror etched across her features. "Not kill it! _Face_ it! Face what happened! If you kill it, you lose _part_ of who and what you are! You won't _survive_!"

"Maybe that is for the best." Olim said slowly, staring down at the Ash. "Maybe I can…"

Coward! Another voice called in Old Orokin and Olim's eyes went wide under his faceplate as another form appeared nearby. Jasmina was clad in robes instead of her warframe and her face was thunderous. You _dare_ use the old tongue to chastise _me_ and then act like _this_? She snapped. What would your _father_ say? She demanded.

"I…" Olim went still. "I… I don't know." His voice was suddenly childlike. "I… I can't remember him…" Jasmina stared at him, her face stunned. Then she bowed to him.

"Brianna." The female Tenno said softly. "Leave."

"I can help!" Brianna stammered. "I can do some-…" The look that Jasmina turned on her, utter devastation, stopped her in mid word. "No." She begged. "Olim…"

"I can help him, Brianna." Jasmina said softly. "But not while you are here. There are things that even the best of humans are unprepared for. Please. Go." Brianna stared at her, then bowed. She made a full formal kowtow to Jasmina and then another to Olim. Then she vanished. Jasmina chuckled a bit sadly. "She likes you."

"No accounting for taste." Olim said, most of his attention on the Ash at his feet. It didn't move, but Olim as not fooled, the sorely wounded mental manifestation was biding it's time.

"Olim." Jasmina said gently. "Step away from it. It can't flee and I need to talk to you."

"It will attack." Olim protested.

"Will it?" Jasmina asked softly.

"What?" Olim asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Did it attack first or did you?" Jasmina asked as she sank to her knees into seiza. Olim stared at her and she sighed. "You did, didn't you?"

"What are you saying?" Olim shook his head, still baffled.

"It is part of you, Olim." Jasmina said softly. "If you kill it, you kill part of yourself."

"I can't live like this…." Olim said, staring at the still form at his feet. "I can't. Weak. Pathetic. Scared…" Suddenly, Olim was on the ground and his entire back and chest were on fire. He screamed as pain flared through him. "I… I can't…"

"Yes, you can." Another, older voice replied. A male voice. Olim didn't know it, but… he did. "Face it, Robert. Face it!" He looked up into a horrible image. The Oberon warframe was torn and rent. It's faceplate had been sliced partly off and a terrible wound shone underneath, but the voice was strong. "Robert! Face your fear!"

"F…Father?" Olim asked, stunned. The pain increased as he stared at the form he barely remembered. "I…"

"You can do it." The Oberon said quietly. "My son can do anything."

That quiet declaration brought tears to Olim's eyes. Olim turned on his unhurt side and stared at the Ash. But now it wasn't an Ash. It was a Frost Prime! Nicholas' gloating face sneered at him from the open faceplate.

"You are mine!" The ghost of the evil renegade said with a leer. "No one will want you. Broken. Fearful. Tainted. Damaged. You have nowhere else to run. You are _mine_."

"No." Olim said weakly, trying to rise. But he couldn't. "This isn't real."

"It is real enough. I will have my revenge on you all!" Nicholas sneered. "You all, so self-righteous, so superior. A blade in the night, a dart in the back and down you go… You will all _burn_!"

"Maybe." Olim paused and then sighed. "I am tired of running." He reached for the other.

"You cannot win! You self-righteous scum will never win!" Nicholas declared as Olim grabbed him. "Go ahead, do it. I will return as often as you kill me! You will never be free!" But instead of striking, Olim pulled the other form close and spoke clearly.

"I forgive you –me-." At Olim's quiet words, the other simply vanished, leaving the still Frost to lie on the surface. He lay there, sobbing.

"Olim?" Jasmina asked as she knelt down beside him.

"It hurts, Jasmina." Olim said in a tiny voice. "Why does it hurt so much?" The female Tenno knelt and gathered him up, holding him as he sobbed. Both stiffened as the Oberon voice answered him.

"Our family curse, Robert." Olim stared up at the Oberon, which was now whole but composed of golden energy. "We feel so strongly. We love so strongly. We grieve so strongly. They took your emotions and used them to break you. The physical damages that you took were the least of your hurts. Your road back will be long and hard, but know this: I am proud of you, my son." The older male Tenno bowed and vanished.

"_Father!_" Olim screamed and tried to reach after the shade, but fell back, exhausted. "I… No…" He sobbed into Jasmina's arms. "Not again…"

"This time it is different, Olim." Jasmina said softly as she held him. "This time you are not alone."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chilling **

Olim was dancing. The Frost warframe that he had bonded to was far slower and clumsier than his old Ash, but it was still responsive to his desires. Strike, block, dodge, kick, each movement in the unarmed kata was focused and precise. But it wasn't enough. He spun to his feet at the end of the series of movements and sighed.

"Why so great a sigh, Olim?" He looked to see his current 'minder', a Tenno named Lilly who wore a Nova warframe. "That looked good." She was a good Tenno, but…a bit odd. He wasn't sure how or why so he ignored it.

He was still a resident in Karl's dojo. Or 'guest', depending on who you talked to. He wondered if 'prisoner' was anywhere in that list, but was too polite to ask. He had an escort every time he left his quarters. The clan had accepted his presence, all except Alicia who stayed away from him. The few times they had encountered one another in the halls, the Tenno minding Olim had glared until Alicia had moved on. It bothered Olim that she was still so hostile. He had no idea why she was. It had been three days since Olim had bonded to the Frost and he was…better. Some anyway.

Aeron had let him on the range and he had actually surprised the sniper with his skill at two pistol shooting. But then again, two pistols made a lot more sense at close range where missing was far harder and reaction times could be measured in milliseconds. Reloading was a pain, but then again, it wasn't as bad as it could be. He was okay with long guns, but preferred close quarters, both pistol and melee. One thing Karl's people did not stint on was the training time. They let him train all he wanted, even if he had to leave the weapons in the training areas after each session, it still felt good.

"It doesn't feel right." Olim said softly as he sank back to seiza. "The movements are right, but… It doesn't feel right." He shook himself. "I'll try not to grump too much." He said with a snort.

"You don't complain much at all." Lilly said with a tilt of her head. "The others say you never did."

"When you have been down as far as I have, anything up is an improvement." Olim said with a shrug. "And what good does complaining do?"

"Sometimes it makes people see a problem they didn't see before." Lilly said equably. "Can you define what feels wrong?"

"I am not sure." Olim said after a moment. "I am used to the Frost now. It was an adjustment from the Ash. Slower, but better protected. Not as stealthy, but much more survivable. I used one…before." He thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I could tell the kata was good. Not perfect, but then again, what _is_?" He said with a snort.

"Nothing that I have ever seen." Lilly agreed with a chuckle. "So… what?"

"I don't know. I guess I need to talk to Brianna and Amelia." Olim said with a groan. "I have put it off."

"No one will push you." Lilly promised.

"Maybe that is the problem." Olim said in a half joking, half serious tone. Lilly looked at him and Olim shrugged. "Most of my life I have been pushed. To be better, to be faster. To be stronger. You all have been _far_ more understanding than I would have been."

"You want to go to Medical?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah." Olim agreed. "I just…" He broke off and shook his head.

"Alicia won't bother you." Lilly promised.

"I can't figure it out, sister." Olim said plaintively as he rose from seiza. "She hates Raven, I get that. Anyone with eyes and ears gets that. Why hate _me_ when the rest of you have said you don't? I…" He shook his head. "It took everything I had to forgive myself for what I couldn't change, what I couldn't endure. I know it wasn't my fault, but… All that time hating myself, pushing myself and falling short because I was meant to. It still feels raw."

"It is going to." Lilly said sadly. "And Alicia's hate is not helping. Come on. I think they will let you see Raven today."

"I hope so." Olim said, his tone sad. Raven was a mess. They had her in an induced coma currently to try and let her body heal the horrific damage that she had taken from Alicia's Sicarus. Her damaged warframe was overtaxed trying to keep her alive with all of the damage it had taken from the Corpus butchers. "Even if she can't hear, maybe she can feel our support."

"Stranger things have happened, brother." Lilly said with a nod.

"Oh yeah." Olim agreed. "Like me. Ah…" He paused halfway to the door. "Lilly, can I ask a question?"

"You can ask." Lilly said calmly as she waited for him. "I might not have an answer."

"Should I swear to Karl?" Olim asked his posture solemn and his tone serious. Lilly stared at him and he shrugged. "I don't… He and the others are working so hard to make me welcome. I feel… Like I am freeloading."

"Like _what?_" Lilly asked, her tone confused.

"Like I am doing nothing but using resources. Not contributing." Olim said with a wince. "It feels…wrong. I want to help. But… I don't know…" He fingered the collar around the neck of his warframe and sighed. They hadn't wanted to put one on, but Olim had flatly refused to move from the storage room until they had disabled his warframe systems. "I don't know if I can trust myself."

"There is only one way to know, Olim." Lilly said gently. Olim nodded soberly and then shook his head.

"You have all been so good to me." Olim said with feeling. "I will pay my debt to your clan."

"Olim." Lilly stiffened and her voice turned hard. "We are paying the debt we owe _you_." Olim bit back what he was going to say and then shook his head again. Lilly relaxed a little. "I know this is hard for you to believe, but you are important. You represent the people that we have failed. So many that we have failed." Olim paused. Was that _shame_ in Lilly's voice? "The greatest of journeys begins with a single step and this is ours. Perhaps the first step on the road to the Tenno's redemption."

"Redemption?" Olim asked, confused. "What?" Lilly froze and then shook her head. "Lilly?"

"I spoke out of turn." Lilly said in a very small voice. "I am sorry, I can say no more." Olim stared at her for a moment and then nodded slowly.

"I will not ask." Olim said, his quiet words an oath. Then he bowed to her. "If there is anything I can do to help, my sword and service are yours."

"Don't say that." There was honest to god _fear_ in Lilly's voice now. "_Please_ don't say that!"

"Lilly." Olim said sharply. "I cannot be other than I am. If I may be of some service, any brother or sister may call me. That was… My father's oath. I take it as mine." Lilly was shaking her head, but Olim just shrugged. "I did not wish to distress you, sister. We will speak no more of this." He declared.

"I…" Lilly was shivering a bit then went still as the door opened and a Saryn warframe walked in. "Mori." Was her greeting a _plea_?

"You stand relieved, Lilly." Mori said quietly. Lilly all but bolted from the room. She nodded to the stunned Frost. "Olim."

"What did I _say?_" Olim asked, worried. "Have I given offense?"

"No." Mori reassured him and Olim relaxed. The Saryn could be cold on occasion, but she had no use for beating around the bush. If she said something, it was true. "We are all stressed. Lilly is… Well, she is far older than she acts at times. She remembers more than the rest of us. She spent a great deal of time out of cryo, meditating, thinking, trying to find enlightenment."

"…and I have confused her." Olim said with a sigh. Mori nodded. "I will apologize when I see her again."

"It's not your fault, Olim." Mori said sharply. "I know it is hard to believe, but it isn't."

"I have waited long enough, Sister Mori." Olim said with a sigh. "I need to speak to Brianna and Amelia. I need to face this. I need… some kind of closure."

"I understand." Mori said with a nod. "For what it is worth, you are doing very well." She motioned for Olim to precede her and he did.

"It doesn't feel right, sister." Olim said as they left the room. "I got most of the moves done correctly, but… It doesn't feel right."

"Olim, you just found out how badly you were really hurt all those years ago." Mori said reasonably. "All this time you have been wandering around, doing what you do, _half_ healed. Is it _going_ to feel the same?" Her tone was wicked and Olim snickered.

"No, I guess not." Olim replied. "And I have put this off long enough. Any word on Raven?" He asked, trying to keep a pleading note from his voice. Mori looked at him and he knew he had failed. "I feel responsible."

"As do we all." Mori said sadly. "None of us expected what happened. Alicia has always had a hair trigger temper, but… not like that."

"One thing is clear, Mori." Olim said as they moved through the dojo corridors that he was finally beginning to make sense of. "She was going to kill me, not Raven."

"I know." Mori agreed.

"Why?" Olim asked, confused. "I wasn't in a warframe. I wasn't a threat. Raven was. Why shoot me? Raven saved me, but… Why?"

"I don't know, Olim." Mori said quietly. "We have all been wracking our brains, going over sensor logs. There was nothing abnormal until she shot you in that cavern. Nothing."

"And she refuses to speak of it." Olim said with a gulp. His talks with Karl and Jasmina, neither of whom pressured him to do anything, had been informative, but also frustrating. So much information had been lost in the Collapse.

"If you want a trial…" Mori started only to break off as Olim made a sharp gesture of negation. "Olim… She shot you without cause."

"We don't know if she had cause." Olim said with a shrug. "What I do know is that she would have killed me if I hadn't turned. The burst from her Braton would have taken me center mass. I gave her clan lots of reasons to dislike and distrust me. Did she swear my death?" He asked.

"Not that anyone can determine." Mori said with a wince. "If she had, then, well…"

"If she did, then we can find a way." Olim replied uneasily. "I would prefer to remain alive, but if my death would heal the rift…" He stopped talking abruptly as Mori grabbed him and pulled him until his faceplate was bare centimeters form hers.

"Don't you _ever_ say that!" Mori hissed angrily. "You are _just_ as important as she is!" She gave him a hard shake and then released him. "Just… _don't_." She snapped.

"Mori, we cannot have her and me in close proximity." Olim said quietly. "Even without weapons and both of us with powers disabled, we _will_ run each other. Sooner or later this will come to a head."

"Karl sends her out regularly." Mori said with an obviously reluctant nod. "But I agree this is going to end badly."

"Maybe." Olim said, thinking hard.

"Olim?" Mori asked, suspicious. "What?"

"Is Will available?" Olim asked quietly. Mori stared at him. "I have a question about matter of honor and I am… reluctant to put it to the clan leader as I doubt his impartiality in this dispute." Mori started to protest and Olim raised a hand. "Nothing against Karl, but he sees me as his brother's final legacy. He _cannot_ be impartial, Mori."

"I…see." Mori said with a grunt of worry. "I will ask, but I will have to be there too."

"Right." Olim said sadly. "I did not mean to divide the clan, Mori." He jumped as she smacked his arm.

"_You_ didn't." Mori said with a snarl. "Come on, let's get to Medical."

The rest of the walk was in silence. Most of the clan was out on missions, so they did not encounter anyone until they arrived in Medical. Amelia was working at a desk as they entered.

"Mori? Olim?" Amelia asked, looking up from her terminal. "Anything wrong?"

"Yes, and it is time I started putting it right." Olim said with a sigh. "I need to talk to you and Brianna, try to make sense of what happened. I… I didn't want to…" The admission shamed him.

"Olim." Amelia said kindly, rising from her desk to approach them. "Taking injuries and having scars from said injuries is not shameful."

"No, but ignoring people who want to help _is_." Olim said with a shrug. "I have been lax in my courtesy to both you and Brianna and you have both been most patient with me. My apologies, doctor."

"Accepted." The human doctor said, coming to stand in front of him. "Are you sure, Olim?" Amelia asked with a look. "Mental problems are not easy to fix, even with our technology. We can help you, but it will take some time."

"It's not like I have anything better to do." Olim said with a small chuckle. "But yes."

"Okay." Amelia said with a nod. "I will start, Brianna is in with Raven." Olim perked up but subsided as Amelia shook her head. "No change. Her injuries are not healing."

"That doesn't make sense!" Mori said, her voice worried. "How can her warframe not be healing her?"

"Her warframe is only partially active, Mori." Amelia said with a sad sigh. "We cannot get any more of it to activate with the damage. The good news is that we have finished the scans, the bad news…" She paused as both Mori and Olim tensed. "We don't know if she will wake at all, Mori. Olim…" She said as he bit back a sob. "I am sorry."

"Better to know, be able to prepare." Olim said, bowing his head. "We have lost so much. To lose a sister like this though. It hurts."

"It does." Amelia said with a wince. "I am not Tenno and I don't want to lose her. No doctor likes losing patients, but…" She paused and looked off into space.

"But?" Olim pressed when she did not respond.

"There has to be more to it than Alicia being angry, Olim." Amelia said with a wince. "She was going to shoot _you_! Not Raven, which makes no _sense_ considering her choice of ammunition."

"What if…" Olim mused. "What if, after shooting me, she had turned the gun on herself?" Both females stared at him and he shrugged. "Armor piercing explosive rounds. Anti Tenno weaponry." Those words made the air in the room suddenly feel cold. Or was it just Olim? He shivered and he saw the others do the same.

"She is not suicidal." Amelia said with a wince. "We scanned her thoroughly after Karl and Will brought her in. She was raging but not suicidal."

"I wonder…" Olim said softly. "Could _she_ have been programmed?" Amelia and Mori both winced, the doctor's jaw agape.

"It is…possible." Amelia said with a shiver. "But to find out, we would have to do a deep scan like we did on you and I know she has anti-interrogation protocols buried in her mind. She would die."

"Then no." Olim said flatly. "I will not be responsible for a sister's death."

"Olim, you are not." Mori said just as flatly. "We cannot have Tenno fighting Tenno outside of the Conclaves." Olim jerked and Mori hissed. "Don't even _think_ about challenging her. I would knock you silly."

"Wouldn't work anyway." Olim said slowly. "Even if she was programmed… She would know it wasn't real." But he was thinking hard.

"Do you want to see Raven before we start our session?" Amelia asked to break the tension that had grown.

"I would appreciate it, doctor." Olim said politely. Mori glanced sharply at him but he paid her no mind. Amelia nodded and walked to a door, vanishing through it as the security field flashed green. There were taking no chances with Raven, either escaping or being attacked, either one was bad. But he was distracted. There had to be a way to get Alicia to…

"Don't even _think_ about it!" Mori hissed again. "I _will_ hurt you." Olim sighed and relaxed.

"There is a schism within your clan, sister Mori." Olim said in a formal voice. "What good Tenno can help but try to find a way to ameliorate such a divide?"

"I am not letting you out of my sight." Mori snapped.

"You are going to be bored out of your mind listening to me whine." Olim said with a shrug.

The door that Amelia had gone through chimed and he stepped forward, followed by Mori. The passage through the security field was quick and painless. If they had not been authorized it would have been neither, if possible at all. A short corridor, flanked on both sides by security machinery, provided further protection. The next door opened and Amelia beckoned them in. The sight inside the isolation room always brought tears to Olim's eyes.

Raven lay on a bed, surrounded by medical machinery. Her chest was mass of wounds old and new, her warframe plates removed to provide access to her damaged body. The doctors could not remove them all without causing worse harm, due to the damage done by careless Corpus surgeons. She lay silent and still. Brianna sat by the bed, her face sad as she looked up for a moment, shook her head and returned to her readouts.

"Ah Raven…" Olim said sadly. He bowed his head. "You saved my life, sister. I have no idea if I will be able to repay you or not, but I will find out why you were hurt. I swear it." Mori hissed at him again and he shook his head. He smiled as he kept his eyes on Raven's still form. "But I _also_ swear I won't be _stupid_ about it. Get well, sister. We need you. We need to figure this out. I get the feeling… We _really_ need to figure this out." Mori relaxed slowly and nodded to him.

Brianna was smiling as she indicated for them to precede her. She followed them into the security corridor. Olim blew out a breath and nodded to the doctor.

"And now… the rough part…"


	10. Chapter 10

**You don't _know_ rough**

Olim was shaking as he walked from the room, Amelia's hand on his arm as he swayed. Mori stood a respectful distance back, her silence a balm to a soul that had just been laid bare, and more than bare. Olim shook his head, trying to focus as he had been taught.

"That was…" He trailed off.

"There is no easy fix, Olim." Amelia said sadly. "Even if we could use the hoods, we would still have to go through it all. Pull it all out and examine it. The hoods would speed up our ability to converse, allow us to go through hours or days worth of conversations in minutes, but…" She sighed sadly.

"This…" Olim shook himself and then laid his hand on Amelia's. "Thank you, doctor. You have given me much to think about."

"If you need to talk…" Amelia said in a serious tone. "I or Brianna will be on shift for the foreseeable future." Olim gave her hand a squeeze and she smiled a bit forlornly.

"Anything I can do to help?" Olim asked seriously.

"If you can find out why Alicia went ape****, it would be appreciated." Amelia said with a scowl. "She always had a temper, but not like that." She shook her head. "She was always… a bit temperamental. But shooting an unarmed person? Shooting Raven?" She shook her head again. "That isn't like her at all."

"There has to be a reason for it." Olim agreed. "But no matter how hard I try, I cannot bring one to mind. I don't _think_ I met her before and that is the only reason that I can think that she would hate me, if we encountered each other. You all say she wasn't obsessed with killing me after the mess with Grina. So…" He shrugged.

"Alicia has always been a bit…emotional." Amelia said with careful diplomacy.

"She breaks things." Mori translated dryly. Amelia's glare slid right off the Saryn.

"She has been trying very hard to be good." Amelia tried again.

"She was read the riot act by Sensei after she broke the drink dispenser in here again." Mori said with a shrug. Amelia snarled and Mori shook her head. "Doc, she has anger management issues. We all know that."

"Anger management issues do not equate shooting someone." Amelia said with a snarl. "She is my friend. I don't want to hurt her, but… She is acting… wrong."

"Family can be a wonderful thing." Olim said into the silence that fell. "Or the most horrible thing in existence. She is related to Raven." Amelia nodded, they had run the gene sequencer three times to be sure. Each time, the results came back the same. Close siblings. "So when she arrived in the cavern and saw Raven… She shot _me._" The Frost shook his head. "That makes no sense." He complained.

"I know." Amelia said with a scowl. "And she knows how to fool psyche screenings, interviews, the whole works. We cannot interrogate her with the protocols inside her skull. So…" She shrugged helplessly. "Where does that leave us?"

The trio had returned to the main room of the medical ward and pause don seeing a warframe waiting for them. Will's Excalibur Prime was distinctive. He nodded to the trio.

"You wanted to see me, doc?" Will asked quietly.

"Actually, Olim did." Amelia said with a frown, looking at Olim. Mori's posture as well was intent as Olim bowed from the neck to Will.

"Olim?" Will asked calmly.

"Before I begin, I need to say this." Olim said carefully. "Anything I say is intended as a query, not an insult or an attack on anyone." Will looked at him and Olim nodded. "Alicia shot me. I thought she had cause."

"I wasn't there." Will said calmly.

"I know." Olim asaid with a nod. "Karl, Jasmina, Aeron and Alicia. A good team spread for an unknown situation. Especially with a possible rogue Tenno." He shook his head. "I have been thinking about what I did. How I drew her attention. I cannot think of anything I did that might have drawn a lethal force response. I was blinded, I set my weapon down, I rose to talk to Karl, and then I turned partway and was hit."

"I have viewed the readings from all the warframes involved." Will agreed. "Her vitals didn't spike."

"They didn't?" Olim asked slowly. Mori had stiffened. Amelia looked blank.

"What does that mean?" Amelia asked, worried.

"It means she shot him in cold blood." Will said calmly. "She wasn't angry. She wasn't reacting to some emotional stimulus. She planned to shoot him from the moment she arrived." Amelia staggered at that and Mori looked like she was about to as well, warframe or no.

"I don't believe it." Olim said after a moment. "I don't remember ever doing anything to her aside from the mess when Kori and I came here. Did she swear my death for that? If so…"

"It wasn't rage, Olim." Will said softly. "It wasn't revenge."

"That doesn't make _sense!_" Olim said with a snarl. "Why would she want me dead? If she knew Raven was there…" Will held up a slow hand and Olim broke off, waving for the Excalibur Prime to speak.

"She didn't." Will said quietly. "She didn't know that Raven was there, or who Raven _was_ until later. When she found out, her vitals spiked dramatically. She stopped trying to treat you at that point and retreated."

"I don't understand." Olim said, feeling faint. "Everything I have ever heard about Alicia says she is a compassionate, caring soul." Mori and Amelia both nodded at that. "Why would she want me dead unless in revenge?"

"I don't know." For a moment, the Excalibur's armor cracked and pain sounded in his voice. "She won't talk to me now."

"Then…" Olim swallowed hard. "My presence here has caused a schism in your clan." Amelia and Mori both started to speak and he cut them off. "Please, Mori, Doctor…" They both subsided and Olim focused on Will. "What do you think? As a Tenno, not as the Executive Officer and Training Officer of this clan?"

"Something is driving her." Will said after a moment's thought. "And I don't think she knows what it is. She is… confused. Her anger is clear, but…" He shook his head. "We cannot delve into her mind. Not and keep her alive. She will not talk to us. Even on missions, her answers are all single words."

"What if she succeeded?" Olim asked softly. Will jerked, staring at him. "The weapon she hurt Raven with was loaded to defeat warframes. Overkill for me, but…"

"Kill you and then herself?" Will asked, cautiously. "Possible. But…why?"

"The only one who knows is Alicia herself." Olim said slowly. "And she refuses to talk to you, any of you. So…" He blinked. "Maybe she will talk to me."

"No!" Mori snapped. "Not going to happen."

"Mori, you cannot have a schism of this sort in your clan. Tenno do not kill Tenno." Olim paused. Why did that phrase hurt him so badly? "I…" He looked up. Somehow, he had fallen to his knees. Will and Mori were standing beside him, their postures worried. "What just happened?" He asked, scared.

"Olim?" Amelia was staring at a readout. "Your neural feeds just surged. When you said what you did, a massive spike of neural energy hit and you fell. _No!_" She shouted as he started to repeat it. "One code word access unprepared was _more_ than enough. I thought Ric was going to stroke out on my table! Do not even try it! Not until we are ready!"

"I…" Olim shook his head. "Doc, we need to know what is going on. If it is me, or her, we need to know."

Mori and Will shared a look. Olim took a moment to collect his thoughts and then straightened. Both warframes stepped back.

"Olim, if you open up a compartment inside your mind unprepared, who _knows_ what may come out of it?" Amelia said with a snarl worthy of a Grineer. "No! Not until we are ready. I want Sensei _and_ Jasmina here in case we need some kind of super-secret code again."

"_Again?_" Olim asked and then shook his head. "Never mind. I know about classification issues. I…" He paused. "I think…" For a moment in his memory, he thought he saw a dark room with a single light, but it faded.

"Olim?" Will asked carefully.

"Did I space out?" Olim asked with a wince.

"You said 'I think…' and didn't say anything more." Will said with a shake of his head. "You okay?"

"I don't know." Olim said with a wince. "I guess I need some downtime."

"Out of the warframe and asleep." Amelia's tone brooked no insubordination. "Do I need to get you a sedative?"

"No." Olim said quietly. "I can sleep. Thank you, Amelia. I have a lot to think about, but I am tired. Will… can you walk with me? I think Mori's shift is over." Mori looked at him but then nodded slowly. Will nodded as well and both men left medical in silence.

"No." Will said as they waited for an elevator.

"I haven't said my plan." Olim protested mildly.

"Having Alicia kill you is a bad idea. Trying to fake her killing you is a _worse_ idea." Will said calmly. "You are a guest, you have guest protection."

"And your family is paying the price." Olim said softly. "Will, please. Let me try."

"If she kills you and then herself, what do we gain?" Will asked, his tone quiet.

"And if she does it in the Conclave?" Olim asked. Will paused and Olim pressed his slight advantage. "I hate the whole idea of fighting other Tenno." An ache flew through him at that, but he ignored it. "But she needs help."

"I cannot argue that." Will said with a sigh. "But if she does kill you…"

"In Conclave, the weapons can disable, but not kill." Olim said with a sigh. "If I challenge her…"

"She will ignore you." Will said with a snort. "She isn't quite as… bound as Karl and I are."

"Bound is a good word for it." Olim agreed. "More polite than some I might think of." He paused as Will chuckled. "At least you can laugh about it. I don't think I have ever heard Karl laugh."

"He does." Will said with a hint of sadness. "Just not around outsiders." He sighed deeply. "What do you have in mind?"

"As Executive Officer, you have the power to arbitrate disputes, yes?" Olim asked. Will nodded and Olim continued. "And if the dispute cannot be resolved any other way, settle it by sending the participants to Conclave?"

"Against their will?" Will asked, concerned. "The whole _point_ of Conclave was for Tenno to test their skills against other Tenno in safe conditions. Yes, it has been used as a trial by combat, but never to the death." He paused. "Or… never _knowingly_ to the death."

"Will, maybe I can get her to say something, explain to me." Olim pleaded.

"Olim, she has never been one to monologue." Will said sourly. "She can be verbose, but… She knows more about operational security that you or I have forgotten on the subject."

"She was intelligence, wasn't she?" Olim asked. Will did not respond and Olim shook himself. "Never mind, stupid question. Will, if we cannot find a reason for her actions, for her attacks on myself and Raven, you know _how_ the shrinks will react." Will slumped a bit and Olim nodded. "I couldn't leave Raven to face her fate alone and I cannot leave Alicia to face the same fate alone. Not if I can do something."

"We cannot do this alone, Olim." Will said with a shrug. "This…teeters right on the edge of legal."

"I know." Olim agreed. "I hope to convince you. Maybe the two of us can come up with an argument to convince Karl and Jasmina." The elevator came and… Karl and Jasmina stepped out. Both the Rhino and the Ember were glaring at Will. They had obviously been listening in. Olim spoke first. "It was _my _idea!"

"It is _stupid_." The Ember who had been his first clan supervisor said sharply. "Conclave is not meant for such things."

"Will." Karl's voice held disapproval.

"I hadn't agreed." Will said with a sigh. "I want to. I want to help Alicia, but honor demands I support the clan first."

"Alicia is a _member_ of your clan!" Olim snapped, irate. "Something is _wrong_ with her. You cannot get information if she won't talk to you! You have to get through. I am offering a way to try."

"By letting her _kill_ you?" Jasmina snapped, equally hot. "Of the stupid, hare brained…"

"Jasmina, please…" Olim said quietly, cutting off her tirade. She stared at him and then at Karl who waved for him to speak. "You all say that Alicia is not acting as she was. Was she acting this way before you found me?"

"No." Karl said slowly.

"Then somehow, I am the catalyst. Or… she encountered something in that cavern that changed her." Olim said slowly. "Something is driving her. What, we don't know. We need to find out. I am offering my assistance to your clan, Tenno Karl. For your care and hospitality, your patience and your help. You believe you are paying a debt. Well, _I_ have a debt to pay to your clan as well. Let me pay it. Please?" Olim begged.

"I…" Karl sighed. "What do you have in mind?"

"Now that I think about it, Conclave won't work." Olim said slowly. "She knows the rules there as well as any of us do. We have to give her what she wants, with no chance of her hurting herself after."

"She wants you _dead_, Olim." Jasmina protested.

"Yes and that puts a dampener on our relationship." Olim agreed. A snort escaped from both Will and Karl. "I am thinking that if she did shoot me in cold blood, that this is a subconscious program or command. But I don't know why someone would program Alicia to kill _me_. I am not that important."

"She saw you on the derelict, and didn't shoot you there." Karl said with a sigh. Olim nodded. "So something changed."

"I wonder…" Olim said slowly. "Raven has two personalities. Does Alicia?" All three other Tenno went still. "Would she know?"

"Not necessarily." Karl mused. "Serene had another personality grow inside her and it wasn't until she saw Sara for the first time that Two manifested. So… What?" He asked Olim.

"Give her a shot at me." Olim said with far more calm than he felt. "Let her do what she wants and then take her down before she can do anything else."

"Olim, I can't let you do this!" Jasmina said with a snarl.

"Jasmina, it is my choice." Olim said softly. "Our sister is in trouble. Something is wrong with her. This may help get it out in the open."

"Or she may kill herself as soon as she kills you and then we have nothing." Karl said sourly. "And if she goes for a head shot, we may not be able to get you back at all."

"Karl." Olim said softly. "They will lock her up." Karl stilled and Olim nodded. "I can't let them do that to her any more than I could have left Raven alone."

"You are stubborn enough to be in our clan." Karl complained. Jasmina shook her head but Karl sighed. "It is his choice, Sister Jasmina."

"It's _stupid!_" jasmine exclaimed. "I… I can't be party to this." She turned to go, but Olim laid a hand on her arm. "Olim."

"For what it is worth, I am sorry I was such a pain in your clan, Jasmina." Olim said, bowing his head. "I was proud to serve with you, sister. Please, do not think the less of me for following my duty to kin."

"I won't." Jasmina said softly. "There were times I wanted to hit you, knock you over the head. But I never wanted you dead, brother."

"I know." Olim agreed, stepping forward to lay his arms around the Ember. "Be well, sister Jasmina."

Jasmina slowly returned his embrace and then stepped back. He let her go.

"No matter what else happens, Olim." Jasmina said formally. "Your name is on our clan roll of honor. Now and always. You will always be welcome with us. At any time, at any price, call and we shall come." She bowed formally to Olim and then turned and strode away, leaving Olim to stare after her, stunned.

"I…" Olim shook his head. "I don't know what to say." He stammered, turning back to the Rhino and Excalibur Prime.

"You may not think you are worth it. But others do." The Rhino replied. "I hope you have a plan." Karl said sourly. "One that _doesn't_ involve large holes blown in my dojo."

"Alicia goes from her quarters to the Armory to the ships, and then back when the missions are done, yes?" Olim said, a germ of an idea starting to take root. Will nodded and Olim shivered. "Then… yes. I know what to do. We will need to coordinate, make sure no one else is in the danger zone."

"And have Medical on standby." Will agreed. "What is your plan?"

"The security system can disable her if she tries to kill herself, can't it?" Olim asked, thinking hard.

"Probably." Karl said with a wince. "It did before, but she has to have revamped her warframe a bit since then. Upgraded mods at the very least."

"Okay then." Olim said with a nod. "When next she goes for a mission, I will wait for her in the corridor between the armory and the ships."

"Alone."


	11. Chapter 11

**Showdown**

Olim stood in the bright passageway, fully aware of his vulnerability. There was no cover. Nothing to hide behind. His warframe was powered, but the low level mods that inhabited it's slots were mediocre at best, more like abysmal. He had felt so confident when he had been putting this idea to Karl and Will, but now, standing here with the moment of truth fast approaching, he found himself worrying more and more. But not about himself. Live or die, his choice was made. It was Raven he was worried about. She was…

Olim shook himself. He had to focus. He had maybe one chance to keep this from hurting a lot. Maybe if he spoke as soon as Alicia appeared? No. He had to let her take the first action. He owed her clan that much and so much more. The others had offered weapons, but he had no wish to hurt Alicia, simply to find out why she wanted him dead.

The elevator ahead chimed and he went stiff as the doors opened and the familiar form of a Trinity warframe stepped out and started his way. He stood silent as she approached and then forced himself to remain still as she reacted to his presence. She jerked to a halt, her hands going to her weapons, and then falling to her sides.

"Hello Alicia." Olim said, glad his voice was steady.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Alicia snapped. The hate in her voice was palpable. "And where are your faithful bodyguards?" The derision in her voice was…wrong. Something was wrong, but Olim could not figure out what it was.

"I am alone." Olim replied honestly.

"Sure you are." Alicia snapped sarcastically. She looked one way and then the other, but there were no cross corridors, no hidey holes for other Tenno to lurk in. The corridor was brightly lit and clear of obstructions.

"All I want to know is what I did to deserve your hate." Olim said softly. "Then you can do whatever you want."

Even knowing what was going to happen, Olim was stunned by how fast she moved. One moment, she was standing there, her posture dismissive, the next her hand leaped to her side and her Bolto pistol came up.

"_Alicia!_" He had time to shout before white hot agony hit him and sent him flying.

* * *

**Um...**

It was weird. He could see. It was like he was hovering over the corridor. But not as a ghost. No. This was different from any ghost story he had ever heard. Everything was lines of code. Golden computer code. Walls, floor, ceiling, all were lines of code. It was... familiar. He could see a limp Frost warframe pinned to the wall by pistol bolts. Alicia was standing, her pistol still extended. But…

A large dark shadow was seeping around Alicia, grabbing her, pulling her. It seemed to be wisps of black computer code. The shadow was…familiar somehow. She was struggling with it, as it pulled her hand towards her own head. The hand with the pistol… If the shadow got loose from Alicia, somehow he knew it could take control of anyone! He couldn't let that happen.

"No!" Olim screamed. Alicia did not hear him, but the shadow apparently did. "Leave her, foul minion of darkness!" Olim wasn't sure where the words came from. Or where the large golden Magister mace that was suddenly in his hand had come from. "She is _not_ yours. Not now! Not _ever_! Face me monster!"

_**Perish? Fool! **__**You**__** will serve, not die!**_ The words were dark and cold. Olim had _thought_ he knew what evil was, but suddenly, he realized he hadn't really had a clue. _This_ was evil. Whatever it was. But he had a sinking suspicion he knew what it was.

"Not today!" Olim declared, stepping forward and swinging his mace. It connected to the shadow and the form shrieked loud enough to stun Olim momentarily. When he could see again, the shadowy code wisps had left Alicia, and were clawing at him. He swung again and again at the form, but hit nothing but air. The shadow's attacks seemed to seep right through him, freezing his blood and bones, slowing him.

_**So delectable, your nobility tastes.**_ The shadow crooned from close at hand. _**I will savor your pain**__**.**__** You will serve well as this one did. Prepare to serve, Tenno. You will **__**all**__** serve. Prepare for Sentience.**_

"No!" Olim screamed as he slammed the mace down onto whatever surface they were standing on and a massive pulse of power suddenly erupted around him. Then he held out his hand as if to digitize a captive. "Be held!" He shouted and… something slammed through him. An unearthly shriek sounded and…

"_Olim!_" The voice was female. "Olim, please…" It was Alicia. She was near tears. "Come on… please…" Warmth was spreading across Olim's body now. "Oh my god, what have I _done_? _Help_!" She screamed.

"A…Alicia…" Olim managed to grate out. She gasped.

"Olim, don't move!" Alicia said with horror in her voice. "Don't move. I need to stabilize you. I… I didn't mean to. I didn't… I couldn't…" She was crying now.

"Not your fault, sister." Olim managed to say as pain came. "Don't touch." He warned as a presence nearby came closer. "Tell… Karl… others. Sentient."

"_What_?" Alicia asked, shocked. "That is not possible."

"Don't know how. Don't know why." Olim gasped out. "I think I hurt it. Confined it. But… it's still here. I can feel the…malevolence." Indeed, Olim could feel the seeping horror gaining strength. Testing its prison in his warframe buffers. "Alicia, get back!"

"Olim, I hurt you. I… I nearly killed my sister!" Alicia snapped. "I will not leave you to face the Enemy _alone_."

"You are vulnerable, sister." Olim begged her. "Please, get back."

"Alicia!" Karl's voice was stern. "Back."

"Karl." Olim gasped as the warmth faded and cold started seeping through him again. "Quarantine. Sentient virus. Protocol Seven… do it." The cold surged again and he could _feel_ the dark hunger starting to grow.

"No!" Alicia screamed. "Don't!"

"Alicia…" Olim gasped. "If that thing gets loose… in here… we are _screwed_… Karl… Protocol Seven…. Please! Hurry!" He begged.

"On it, Olim." Karl said softly as his Hek came down to point at Olim's head. He never saw the flash. Suddenly he was in total darkness, but did not lose consciousness. The malevolence he had felt was gone.

"…and what the _hell_ did you _do_?" Alicia demanded as Olim's faceplate snapped open. "That wasn't pellets." He looked up and saw Karl, Will and Jasmina surrounding Alicia who was on her knees. She had been disarmed, but she wasn't bound, the collar that had been on her neck was gone and her hands were pulsing healing energy towards him.

"Localized EMP." Karl said calmly. "Fried everything in his warframe, probably trashed the entire system."

"Hope it did." Olim groaned. "Was losing containment. But don't take any chances."

"Olim! You made it!" Alicia's voice was jubilant now. Then she faltered. "Oh my god, I am so, so sorry!"

"Not your fault, sister." Olim said with a sigh as he tried to move and couldn't. Every part of his body was suddenly immobile. Probably from the dead weight of the warframe. "That thing was _nasty_."

"I don't know how it hit me, I was suddenly a hitchhiker in my own body. I couldn't do anything! All I could do was watch!" Alicia was crying again. "I didn't want to…"

"When did it happen, Alicia?" This from Will.

"Just after we breached the cave Olim was in." Alicia said, her voice coming in gasps. "Everything got dark and then… I tried, but mostly I couldn't _do_ anything, just watch. I…"

"It was a Sentient computer virus." Olim said into the silence that fell as Alica kept crying. "Took control of your warframe systems. Almost impossible to detect, hard as hell to defend against. Without specialized help, there was nothing you could have done."

"Specialized help like you." Jasmina's voice was awed, a first in Olim's experience. "Cyberlancer."

"Don't _start_." Olim said, a bit snappish. "I hurt and right now am stuck in a dead warframe."

"Cyber-…" Alicia's voice held awe as well now. "Olim is a _Cyberlancer_?"

"Can we talk about that _after_ I get out of this thing?" Olim asked, a bit peevishly. "We will need to jettison and incinerate it. I am betting the virus is just dormant. Everything I remember about viruses like that is horror."

"I'll say." Alicia gulped. "May I… may I assist?"

"I have no objection." Karl said quietly. "Olim?"

"I would accept _any_ help right now." Olim admitted. He felt hands on his warframe and then he was on his stomach. The hiss of seals popping was music to his ears. He slid out of the warframe gingerly, trying to minimize his contact with it, as stupid as that sounded since he had been inside it! Alicia helped him out and then helped him to stand. Her hand touched his chest where the bolts from her pistol had hit.

"You are bleeding." Alicia said in an abject tone.

"I am alive." Olim chided her gently. Alicia would not meet his eyes. "Alicia, look at me." The Trinity would not meet his gaze and he sighed. "Sister Alicia, it is not your fault. _I _could barely fight that thing. I need to find out more, find out if any records still exist on what my family did." Alicia's face came up and her faceplate was retracted. She had been crying nonstop. He reached up slowly and brushed the tears away. "It is not your fault, sister."

"I shot you." Alicia said softly. "I shot Raven. I… I hate her, but… I didn't want her _dead!_"

"She is not. Yet." Olim said gently. "Come on. I bet this is going to be one _hell_ of a debriefing." He took a step and pain flared in his chest. He ignored it, but Alicia was watching close and took hold of his right arm. Will moved to Olim's other side and held his other arm. "I can walk!" Olim protested.

"Of course you can." Alicia said with a sad laugh. "You are Tenno, you _define_ stubborn. But I am not going to let you kill yourself after saving me."

"Karl…" Olim begged, looking back at the Frost warframe as the two Tenno half led, half carried him towards the elevator.

"We have got it Olim. Quarantine protocols and a plasma charge." Karl promised him. "Go get patched up. We will talk when you are not bleeding all over my floor."

Neither Will nor Alicia spoke in the elevator and just outside, Brianna waited with a gurney. Her face spoke volumes.

"I…" Alicia stammered, but Olim shook his head.

"Later, Alicia." Olim promised as they eased him up onto the gurney and Brianna started working on his wounds. "We will talk later. Go. Talk to Will. You both need to… talk…" Alicia stared at him, picked up his limp hand and kissed it before laying it back down and letting Will steer her away. Brianna growled, but Olim shook his head again, despite the agony that soured through him. "It wasn't her fault."

"Well, she _did_ kill you." Brianna snapped. "Your warframe revived you, but couldn't heal you completely. So for now, you are _mine!_ Understand?"

"Yes doctor." Olim was resigned as the gurney started off. "I'll be good."

"Yeah, right." Brianna said with a sour snort. "That'll be the day. Relax Olim. It won't take long to heal in Medical. But then we have a lot to talk about."

"I would almost rather being shot again." Olim said quietly as he lay back, but let the doctor work.

* * *

"So…" Amelia was still suspicious, and no one blamed her. "What the _hell_ happened?"

"I am not sure." Alicia was out of her warframe. She sat in a chair nearby and had a blanket wrapped around her. Despite it, she was shivering. Olim could understand. He had been exposed to the virus for just a few minutes and still felt cold himself, but the docs wanted access to his body in case of problems, so no blanket for him. At least the bed was fairly comfortable and the end was inclined up so he could see everyone. "We breached the cave. I saw two shadows, was moving to cover Karl when I suddenly was hit by blackness. It… I have never felt anything like that before that I know of. I was a passenger in my own body. I fought, but…" She slumped.

The room was packed. Karl and Jasmina, Will and Alica, Brianna and Amelia all had managed to get into the small room somehow. The Rhino and Ember stood by the door. Alicia sat in a chair with Will hovering near her. Brianna was sitting in the only other chair, perusing medical readouts and Amelia was standing by Olim's bed. Her stance was protective.

"It's okay, Alicia." Olim said when no one else spoke. "It wasn't you."

"But it _was!_" Alicia said, starting to cry again. "Part of me wanted you dead for what happened to Jac. I hated you since seeing her lying there with that pod, crying. You and Kori both. She was so strong and you hurt her so badly… I…"

"I know." Olim said softly. "I hate myself for what I did, Alicia. What we did to her. I don't blame you for hating me."

"I didn't _mean_ to shoot!" Alicia stammered. "I didn't! It was just so… I couldn't speak. I couldn't do _anything_. It was like my warframe was controlling _me!_"

"It was." Olim replied. Everyone stared at him and then Karl cursed quietly. Jasmina looked like she wanted to be sick. He didn't blame her. "It was a Sentient computer virus, a self-aware AI. A malevolent one. It jumped to your warframe and took control, used you. It jumped to you from Raven. I think you were closest to her." Karl and Jasmina nodded. "It wasn't your fault, sister." Olim pleaded.

"You say that, but it felt like me." Alicia stammered. It was as if she and Olim were alone in the crowded room. "My anger. My rage at my sister. My hate of you. I… I couldn't know if it was me. I wanted you dead so bad. It hurt so bad…"

"Why?" Brianna asked softly. "Why kill Olim?" All of the others looked at each other and Olim sighed.

"The virus likely recognized what I was –what I _had been_- as soon as it detected me." Olim said quietly. "I was a threat. That may be why Raven attacked me the first time. But then _she_ or her other half were in control. I am betting that controlling her was not easy, even for a monster AI virus."

"Do you think that virus was in her…before?" Alicia asked, hope and fear warring in her eyes and voice.

"I don't know, Alicia." Olim said softly. "We may never know." Alicia buried her head in her hands and Olim hurried to speak again. "And not because of what you did." Alicia's tear streaked eyes came up, looking incredulous. "But with all the damage that the Corpus did to Raven's warframe, the records we might be able to salvage will be garbled at best."

"I…" Alicia seemed to wilt. "I will take whatever punishment is decreed, Karl Sensei."

"Olim refuses to press charges." Karl said mildly. Alicia's head shot up, staring at Karl and then at Olim. "With no charges, there will be no trial or punishment. Raven may or may not, but until she wakes, it is moot."

"What?" Alicia asked weakly.

"You are not to blame, sister." Olim said quietly. "The virus was, and it is dead." He sighed. "Or so I hope and pray. I don't remember enough about them to know for sure."

"That warframe is _ashes_, Olim." Will said, his voice hesitant. "How could it _survive_?"

"It wasn't _alive_ to begin with, Will." Olim said with a gulp that others shared. "I need more information. The memories I have are fragmented at best. If it dropped copies of itself…" More than one face blanched at that "Yeah, the whole dojo may be at risk."

"Can you sense it?" Karl asked quietly.

"I don't know." Olim hedged. "I could feel a wrongness from Alicia, but I put it down to her hate." He bowed his head. "My assumption may have doomed us all."

"Or saved us all." Karl said with a frown that was visible even through his closed faceplate. "If what you say is true, if it had managed to take full control of Alicia, then she would have killed you as soon as she ambushed you in Raven's room. And you say she was fighting?"

"She was. I bet it found her stubbornness as irritating as you all did." Olim said with a smile for Alicia, who returned a tiny one. "It didn't have full control. But we will need to be _very_ sure. Even one code packet could doom everyone aboard if it opens with no warning."

"I remember." Karl said grimly. The other Tenno all nodded. Karl shook his head. "Can we count on your assistance, Cyberlancer?"

"What kind of a question is _that_, Karl?" Olim demanded. "This is what my family was trained to _fight_. Of _course_ I will. I just wish I had access to records on these…horrors."

"We might." Karl said quietly. Olim stared at him and Karl raised a hand. "No specifics at the moment, but we might have some more information available. We will know in a couple of hours."

"Any information would be better than the fragments I remember." Olim said with feeling. "And I hate to say it, but I will need another warframe."

"We have one for you." Karl said with a nod. "Frost Prime."

"You are kidding." Olim said, stiffening. "How do you have…a…?" He trailed off and gasped. "No way."

"I can think of _no_ better revenge on the one who hurt you than using _his_ spare warfame to help others." Karl said, a vicious grin now apparent in his voice. "Can you?"

"I will want to check it thoroughly." Olim said weakly. "No offense."

"None taken, brother." Karl said with a nod. "Doc?"

"His injuries are healing, but not for at least eight hours." Amelia said with a sigh. Olim started to protest and she shot him a look that shut him up. "Do I need to sedate you?"

"Please don't beat me, doctor." Olim said meekly as the others laughed. "I'll be good."

"Smart Tenno."


	12. Chapter 12

**Coding**

"This is insane." Alicia said, pushing away from her workstation to stare at where Olim was working. She had been bound and determined to help. Neither wore warframes and both had been thoroughly sanitized for errant data. Which was good, given what they were hunting. Indeed, the clothes they wore had no technology in them at all. No places for evil computer viruses to hide. She was also determined to make up for what she had done, both to him and Raven. Nothing he said made any difference, so he had stopped after an hour of trying.

"Agreed." Olim replied easily, most of his focus on the mass of data within his scan. "But it needs to be done."

"I know." Alicia said with a sigh. "I just… You get used to technology and then it won't work. I remember during the war, so often we had to do everything by hand. Couldn't trust any computers but our warframes and even those could be messed up."

"Three levels of defense." Olim replied. "Physical, computer, spirit. The computers they got immediately, the physical side when they took over places and converted them to factories for drones and combat automatons. They didn't break the third until the end, but…" He slumped a bit. "If only we had _seen_ it." He said sadly.

"They were the undisputed masters of deception. No one saw it coming, Olim." Alicia said gently. "No one. Tenno were immune to their hacking. Immune to their controls. Until the end."

"And then we had to take our lost kin down." Olim said, not seeing his screen. "I… I don't _ever_ want to do that again, Alicia. I don't know how Karl managed. I…" He swallowed. That was why he reacted so badly to the thought of Tenno fighting Tenno. He had. "I don't really _remember_, but I do _feel_. I still feel the blade going in, feel her gratitude as she died free of them at last."

"What happened was horrible." Alicia said with a sigh. "No one saw it coming or they wouldn't have had such a spectacle set up." She shook herself. "Enough of the past. Anything?" She asked.

"No." Olim shook his head. "Sector Nine clear. Moving to Sector Ten."

"Only two more warframes and some parts to check after this." Alicia said with another sigh. "Then we start on the reactor spaces."

"Fun, fun." Olim said with a groan as he focused again on the swirling lines of code.

They hadn't found anything, but that didn't really mean anything. They had to check each and every line of operating system code in each and every warframe. They had started with the active ones, Alicia's at the front of the list. They hadn't found any traces of the Sentient virus, but no one relaxed. Tenno knew the dangers better than any.

"Olim?" Alicia asked after a few minutes.

"Yes, Alicia." Olim replied, not looking away from his code.

"She… Was she… Did it hurt?" Alicia asked softly. "What the Corpus did to her?" Olim paused his code and turned to where Alicia was sitting, her screen blank. "I hope it hurt." Her voice was savage.

"Alicia." Olim said quietly. "Let go of this hate."

"I can't." Alicia said, bowing her head. "We were raised together, but then mom and dad… They went out to battle and didn't come back." Olim sighed, paused his work and rolled his chair to where she sat. "We were… She went one way and I went the other." She jumped a little as Olim laid a hand on her arm. "I am sorry."

"Alicia." Olim said, his tone as gentle as he could make it. "The past is past. The fact that you have even seen her again at _all_ is a major miracle. Don't…" He swallowed hard, licking his lips. "Don't throw that away, no matter how you feel about her now." She turned at the note of loss in his voice and looked up at him with wide eyes. "My last words to my sister were in anger, Alicia. I can never take them back. That was… That was all I thought when they threw her body down beside me. That I could never take back what I said in anger and have regretted ever since."

"Raven was a traitor. She was caught and convicted." Alicia said weakly. "I… I was intelligence. We… We were hunting Sentient spies and she _was_ one. I…"

"You don't _know_ that, Alicia." Olim said quietly and then shook his head. "Take a break, Alicia. Go talk to Will." Will sat in his warframe just outside the room. Both a guard and a reassurance.

"But this needs to be done." Alicia said weakly.

"Yes, it does." Olim agreed. "But _you_ need time, Alicia. Time you haven't given yourself. Take a break, Karl will assign someone else to help."

"When will _you_ take a break?" The Tenno medic asked. Her tone was a bit sharp, but he didn't object.

"When the warframes are done." Olim said with a nod as he turned back to his screen. "Aeron has EMP-ed all of the weapons, so _those_ at least should be clean."

"And you went through the armory." Alicia agreed, shaking herself. "Didn't find anything."

"Alicia, I am about a far from perfect as anyone can be." Olim said with a grunt. "We can't take any chances. I will get some rest, but _after_ the warframes are checked."

"Okay." Alicia said with a sigh. Then she chuckled a bit ruefully. "You are stubborn enough to be in our clan, Olim."

"I can't trust myself, Alicia." Olim didn't see his screen for a moment. Instead, he saw other faces. People he had hurt. "Count me an ally, but I have to walk alone."

"I understand, but… At any time, at any price." Alicia said formally and left the room before Olim could turn to look at her.

"Stubborn girl." Olim said with fond exasperation. Then he focused on the readings again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her stop and speak to Will, but then he was focused on his work. He had to get this done. It was what he did, what his kind were for.

Cyberlancer. An ancient term for a Tenno who focused on attack and defense through electronic systems. During the war, Tenno had been forced to adapt to ever changing Sentient attacks. Those attacks had rendered normal computer systems extremely vulnerable and hazardous to use. The Sentients had possessed inhuman speed and adaptability, but the Tenno had adapted as well, using their own strengths to augment existing computer systems. As the war had dragged on, Cyberlancers had trained others in their techniques. Olim's father had actually trained both of his children in said techniques, but Olim could not remember it all no matter how hard he tried. There were simply too many gaps in his memory.

"Blasted Cryo-nesia." Olim hissed as he scanned the myriad lines of code that made up the operating system of a warframe.

Bio-mechanical the armor might be, but it _did_ have highly specialized integral computing systems. The systems were unique to each warframe and self-contained. The plus had been that no two Tenno were ever the same, so no warframe system would be the same as any other warframe system. A hack that might work against one warframe would _not_ work against any others. Add to that the advanced defenses that a Cyberlancer could invoke and it made taking control of warframes very, very difficult. Not impossible but extremely difficult. Hence why the virus had identified him as the highest threat.

"There are not enough of us left." Olim said softly. "I cannot let it happen again."

"It wasn't anyone's fault, Olim." A soft female voice sounded from behind him and he spun to see a dark skinned Tenno female standing behind him in garb similar to his. Her dark hair hung low around her neck but was well groomed, unlike Olim's short mop. He hadn't bothered to clean himself after leaving Medical. He had been…focused. The voice was familiar.

"Mori?" Olim asked, unsure. She smiled and nodded. "What do you mean?"

"The ones who were corrupted had been out the longest." Mori said sadly. "They…were different. _No one_ could have seen the taint in the midst of their peculiarities."

"If I had been there, I might have." Olim said softly. "Or another Cyberlancer."

"Most of your kind had died in the fighting, Olim." Mori said gently as she took the seat Alicia had vacated. "Died fighting, defending our kin from the horrors."

"If I had been there…" Olim repeated as if he hadn't heard her.

"If you had been there, you would be _dead_, Olim." Mori said softly. "They went _berserk_. The Royal Guard tried to keep the Emperor and his advisors from having that stupid display. No one knew if the war was really over or not. The Emperor declared the war won and demanded a celebration. He wanted to show the people an end to the horror."

"And instead, he got an end to the Empire." Olim said with a gulp. "And then the Collapse when the Infested broke loose from their containments. With help from the subverted Tenno."

"The Sentient's last strike, yes." Mori said with a nod.

"Not the last." Olim said with a sigh. "They will be back, Mori." This last was flat with certainty.

"I know." Mori agreed. "Anything?"

"No." Olim said with a sigh of relief. "No abnormal code detected. Almost done with this warframe."

"How is Alicia handling it?" Mori asked.

"About as well as we might expect." Olim said with a nod. "She is tough. But…" He shrugged. "To be a puppet is a particular horror for our kind. Which is why the Sentients tried so hard to find ways to do it. To break us."

"They failed for almost the entire war." Mori said with a nod as she focused on the screen in front of her. "Even soulless monstrosities had to feel a bit frustrated." Olim glanced at her but did not comment, focusing on the screen.

A flash of black. Everything stopped as Olim hissed. A line of code was…wrong. He could feel the wrongness in it. He carefully sequestered the code and then, just as carefully, wiped it.

"You found one." Mori's tone was resigned.

"Deleted. But where there is one, there is more." Olim said with a snarl. "Alicia did have access to all sectors before she shot Raven." He shook himself. "Before she was compelled to shoot Raven." He corrected himself grimly. "It wasn't her."

"It wasn't _all_ her." Mori corrected him and he paused in his scans. "Never underestimate the power of hate, Olim." Mori said quietly. "The virus used her hate for Raven, but the hate was and is there."

"I hope she talks to Brianna or Amelia. It hurts but it helps." Olim said with a sigh. "I can't help her with that. I can help with this." He finished the scans and sat back in his chair. "Warframe Excalibur L-1J clean."

"Good." Mori said with a smile. "How _you_ doing?"

"Tired." Olim admitted as he stood up and stretched. Sitting in a chair for hours was not his favored occupation. He bit back a yawn but Mori shook her head. "What?" Olim asked.

"Olim, we need you." Mori said firmly. "Don't kill yourself. We can find the code packets. If they are not live, we don't need your special talents." She froze and then hit a series of controls, purging another segment of code. "Another." She said sourly.

"Joy." Olim said, sitting back down and pulling up another warframe operating system. "I know you don't need me for this, but I cannot help but feel responsible in some way. I found Raven."

"I wonder what would have happened if the virus had taken control of her while you were escaping from the humans who tried to sell you to the Corpus." Mori said, her tone absent. But when Olim glanced at her, her posture was tight. Not an idle question.

"I'd be dead." Olim said mildly. "My warframe was in tatters, she had my weapons. Even if she could not use them, I wasn't armed. I wouldn't have had a chance."

"And we wouldn't have had a chance without you." Mori replied after a moment. "That rankles, but none of us could have even detected the virus without specialized gear that we didn't have handy. You sensed it and defeated it."

"I _contained_ it long enough for Karl to disable it." Olim corrected her. "It kicked my butt. I need to try and remember more of what my father taught me. Now more than ever, those teachings will be important."

"I may be able to help." Mori said quietly. Olim went still and she nodded. "I know of a storehouse of information on Cyberlancers. A secure vault of information. They called it 'Secure Site 3'."

"I thought that was just a story." Olim said, thinking hard. "Secure Site 3 was a designated storage facility…" He shook his head. "It fell during the war and was a horror story told to children." He shrugged. "Even if it was still intact, and we _could_ access it… _I_ don't know where it is."

"I do." Mori replied evenly.

Olim suddenly felt a chill that had nothing to do with the thickness of his garments. Something about her had changed. He focused his senses on her, and found no trace of the 'wrongness' that had pervaded Alicia. But she wasn't the same as she had been. He secured his screen and turned to see Mori looking at him. The female Tenno's face was calm, but he felt tension crackle between them.

"Mori." Olim said slowly. "Don't…"

"Don't what?" Mori asked.

"Whatever you are going to do." Olim said with a gulp. "I am not whole. I am not trained. I am not what I should be."

"My primary disagrees." Mori said with a small smile. "As do we all."

"Your… _primary?_" Olim asked, worry percolating. Where had he heard that word used like that before and why did it send a shiver through him?

"This room is secure." Mori said quietly. "No data in or out. Will is holding the corridor and he knows this." Olim glanced at the door and, indeed, Will was standing at the end of the corridor, Alicia by his side. Both had their backs turned. "We can only hope that the virus in Alicia did not manage to access her memory."

"I don't think it did." Olim said, his stomach starting to flip flop. "It didn't have full control. Emotions and the body are easy to access, control. Long term memory? Not so much and Tenno are trained to hold secrets."

"That we are." Mori agreed with a small, sad smile. "And now, I can ask you something. Will you keep a powerful secret? A secret so terrible and wonderful that it could change the balance of power in this system simply by being released?" Olim froze.

"No…" Olim stammered. "You cannot trust me."

"We _do._" Mori said firmly. "Will you swear, on your honor as Tenno and as Cyberlancer, to hold our secret?"

"If it poses such a threat, Mori…" Olim said with a gulp. "Then the fewer who know it, the better."

"Indeed." Mori agreed. "Karl's clan all know this secret. One more worthy of trust is a limited peril."

"But I am _not!_" Olim protested, and bolted for the door.

"Stop." Mori's word was calm, but held dreadful force. Command voice, that which _would_ be obeyed, rarely worked on Tenno. This did. Olim jerked to a halt and spun in place, hands up in a warding gesture. "You are worthy of trust, Robert son of Jackson."

"My name is _Olim!_" Olim nearly screamed, his breath coming in gasps. "You cannot trust me! I cannot trust myself. I will fail again. And if I do…"

"Olim." Mori said softly as she stepped close to where he stood trembling. "You are not alone."

"A…always…alone…" Olim stammered as she touched his arm gently. The touch may have been gentle, but somehow, he was on his knees before her without realizing he had been guided to them. "I…"

"Be calm, Olim." Mori said gently. "As far as we can determine, you are the only living Cyberlancer. Our primary has determined that you must be protected at all costs. You are a priceless resource. We _would_ take you to a place of safety, where you can teach others your skills without placing yourself in harm's way." Olim jerked in instant rebellion and Mori smiled a bit wryly. "Yeah, we _figured_ that would be your response. Stubborn Tenno."

"No…" Olim managed to great the word out past clenched teeth.

"Olim." Mori said softly. "I have no document proof to show you. Nothing powered can enter this room. All I have is my word. And this." She bared her shoulder and turned around. Olim went still as an intricate tattoo shown on her skin. He hissed in disbelief. "Touch it if you must to prove it is real."

"That… That cannot be…" Olim stared at the identification tattoo of an Orokin Royal Guardsman and then swallowed hard. "This isn't… This can't be…"

"My true name is Sergeant Morgan, Guardswoman First Class, Orokin Royal Guard, Olim." Mori said softly as Olim felt the room spin around him. "And I serve the current Empress of Orokin." He stared at her, and for the first time in his life that he could remember, Olim fainted.

* * *

"Is he okay?" Mori sounded very worried as Olim swam back out of the gray that had grabbed him.

"You dropped a _bombshell_ on him, Mori." Alicia said with a hint of acid. "And he was exhausted. Small wonder he collapsed. Easy, Olim." Hands helped Olim sit up, he couldn't see, but he knew his eyes were screwed tightly shut. If he didn't see her, would she vanish?

"I…" Olim was trembling. "You cannot trust me."

"We disagree." Mori said with a small hint of exasperation. "So does the Empress. You can argue with _her_ if you want. I can arrange it. But I wouldn't _recommend_ it."

"I…" Olim stammered. "This cannot be happening."

"It is, Olim." Alicia's voice was comforting now. "It was a shock to us too. Easy, Olim." She crooned. "Deep breaths." He did as instructed. "You need rest and food. I'll get someone else in to check the other warframes." His eyes jerked open and he shook his head as Alicia held out a hand to help him up which he took.

"My… my job…" Olim protested as Alicia helped him stand on trembling feet.

"Well, _my_ job is to keep you alive now, Olim. Healthy as well." Mori said with steel ringing in her tone. He stared at her and she smiled. There was little friendliness in that smile, more a promise. "And I am _very_ good at my job."

"_Please_ tell me she is kidding…" Olim begged Alicia. "That this was all a dream, or a joke. Or _something_…?"

"Sorry, Olim." Alicia said with a shrug. "Welcome to the small club of people who know that Orokin lives."

"**** me." Olim said as he fainted again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Recovery**

"_Where?_" Olim demanded, still reeling from the emotional shocks that had been dropped on him. He was in the quarters he had been given, still recovering from many hours of coding, slouching on the bed as Mori stood by his door. He found her presence…overpowering. Especially since she clambered into her warframe as soon as they left the secure rooms and wouldn't let him out of her sight. At all. It made showering… disturbing on several levels. But Olim _was_ tired.

The other Tenno had found and removed almost a dozen more packets of malignant code while he was unconscious. When he had woken, Mori had badgered him incessantly until he had eaten, and only then had she allowed him back into his work space. He had worked until she had literally pulled him from his screen and forced him to eat and rest again. But between Olim's efforts and the clan's, they had swept the entire dojo, finding half a dozen more evil 'presents' for a total of seventeen. He wasn't fooling himself that they were clear. But it was a start.

"The facility was buried on the southeastern portion of the Asian Continent on Earth." Mori repeated calmly. "It was buried deep under a mountain range. It was infiltrated several times during the war, but it's defenses held off the Sentient attacks. Then, one day, it stopped responding to communications. Several teams were sent to find out why, including one with a Cyberlancer. None returned."

"Earth." Olim said slowly. "That…bothers me for some reason." He focused on his feelings, but could not bring any reason for his unease to light. "If I ever went there, I do not remember it."

"Olim." Mori's voice turned very gentle now. "The Cyberlancer's name who went was Nia." Olim jerked and Mori nodded. "Your mother."

"I…" Olim swallowed hard. "I was very young. Two, maybe three years old? No one ever said what happened. We knew she was dead. Dad… mourned. But…" He shook his head. "I don't understand. If she went there to help, why cover it up?"

"No one knows." Mori said with a sigh. "If there are records, they are buried so deep it may take _years_ to find them even with Cecelia's help in archiving." Olim looked at her and Mori grinned. "That girl is _smart_. She had all the archivists in a tizzy when she started revamping the cataloguing systems, now they barely let her go at all. Ric is helping of course, but…" Her good humor vanished.

"No improvement?" Olim asked sadly.

"No." Mori shook her head. "He doesn't remember most of what he did. And now, even with help, he cannot hold his focus for more than five minutes. Until and unless we can find a way to help, he is sidelined."

"He was a good Tenno." Olim said sadly, then shook himself. "He _is_ a good Tenno." He corrected himself sternly. "Hurt sorely but still a good Tenno."

"That he is." Mori agreed. "Speaking of good Tenno, I wanted to ask you something." Olim shrugged and nodded for her to speak and she did carefully. "I wondered something. If the virus was in control of Alicia, and it shot Raven? Might the _virus_ have done something to Raven?" Olim jerked from his slouch and his eyes were intent for a moment.

"Possible." Olim said slowly. "I didn't… I didn't feel anything." He shook his head. "But I am new to this. Well…" He smiled a bit sourly. "Newly _returned_ to it." He looked at Mori and she nodded.

"How do you feel?" She asked calmly.

"Still a bit groggy." Olim admitted. Lying to her didn't help at all. She seemed to smell dishonesty and had used her advantages ruthlessly. "But capable." Mori looked him over and he flushed. "Mori…" He whined.

"You do your job, I will do mine." Mori said calmly. "You haven't got a new warframe yet."

"Haven't had _time_." Olim said with a growl. "Now I do, but… I want to check Raven first."

"Of course." Mori said with a nod as she started for the door. "Then you eat. _Then_ you can bond to a new warframe."

"Yes, _mother_." Olim grumbled half-heartedly. Getting rude with Mori didn't work. If he tried to dig his heels in, she just got ultra-polite and ultra-_stubborn_. _More_ ultra-stubborn that is. It was hard to believe how intractable she could be and remain so perfectly polite at the same time. He followed her, not bothering to hide his disgruntlement.

Most of the clan was out and about, doing various Tenno missions. Olim felt more at home in this dojo now, but he knew he was still an outsider. He couldn't swear to Karl. Part of him wanted to. The care and concern that the clan were showing touched him deeply. But he wouldn't do that to them. He…

"Stop that." Moris voice jerked him out of his thoughts and he stared at the Saryn. "You keep treading over the same mental ground, Olim." Mori said with a sigh. "I can read your posture as easily as you might read a line of code. Stop beating yourself up." It was a command and Olim found himself straightening against his will. "My job is to protect you. Even from yourself." Mori said with a nod as he scowled.

"You are _impossible_." Olim snapped. "What am I supposed to do? Snap my fingers? Click a line of code and heal myself?"

"No." Mori said calmly as she guided him to an elevator. "But you should listen to the medical professionals and do as they say. You haven't been eating or sleeping enough. I know your dreams are troubled." Olim stiffened and she sighed. "Olim…" Her voice held a mix of exasperation and worry.

"It's all jumbled." Olim said sadly as they entered the elevator. "So many changes, so quickly. Small wonder my subconscious is confused."

"You have been meditating." Mori said quietly. "It isn't helping?"

"It does." Olim said with a frown. "My dreams are ordered. But strange. They don't make any sense."

"Do you remember them?" Mori asked, concerned. "They might be more than dreams."

"Bits and pieces." Olim said as they exited the elevator. "Cold dark code. I know _that_ is a residue from what I faced. Warframes. But not anyone I know." He paused. "Or… I don't _think_ I know them. Fighting. Both physical and on some odd computer level."

"Any hint of where?" Mori asked as they strode towards Medical.

"No." Olim said with a sigh. "Which makes me very unhappy. I can never tell where this is all happening. Which makes me believe it is subconscious fragments of memory pulled to the fore."

"Maybe. Meditation will handle normal dreams." Mori mused. "Even normal nightmares. So, logically, this is more."

"Okay." Olim grimaced, but nodded. "I can see that. So, what do I do?"

"Talk to Amelia or Brianna." Mori's words were not –quite- a command. "I will see if anyone else is having odd dreams."

"You think it is more than nightmares?" Olim asked.

"I do." Mori said quietly and then shook her head as they entered Medical. Alicia was working at the desk and jumped to her feet as they entered. Olim sighed inaudibly. Her deference to him was getting old. Mori remained silent, and he cursed her silently. She kept pushing him.

"Olim?" Alicia said, obviously fighting the need to bow. She wore robes. She hadn't trusted herself in a warframe since shooting him and he knew the feeling. Boy, did he. "Can I help you?"

"Alicia." Olim replied calmly. Then he paused. Something… "I have a question."

"Oh?" Alicia asked, curious. "What?"

"Did you dream last night?" That wasn't what he was planning to say, was it? But she jerked and he suddenly knew his dreams were not random. "You did. Cold dark code, unknown warframes and fighting." It wasn't a question and she paled before she nodded. "I did too."

"What does it mean?" Alicia asked, worried. "I don't think I have ever felt that before. It wasn't a nightmare. I know _that_ feeling."

"Yeah." Olim agreed. "I am not sure. I need to talk to Amelia or Brianna. It may be my own dreams seeping to you somehow. We were both in that odd computer place when I fought the virus."

"You have been dreaming it?" Alicia said slowly. "The same?" He nodded. "How long?" Now her face was very worried.

"Last three nights." Mori said before Olim could. He glared at her, but his irate gaze slid off her warframe easily. He shook his head but refrained from comment. It had been a _long_ three days. So many lines of code.

"Mine was just last night." Alicia said with a gulp. "But…" Olim looked at her expectantly and she slumped. "I did recognize one warframe." She looked away and Olim jerked.

"Valcyr." Olim said softly, his own memory suddenly clearer. "Alicia…" He made his voice turn gentle. "Have you talked to Amelia or Brianna?"

"I did. I had a long talk with Amelia about Raven." Alicia said, her face turned away. "I hate her. But she is my sister. I…" She broke off as Olim stepped up to her and laid a hand on her arm.

"Take your time, Alicia." Olim said gently. "If you push too fast or too hard, you will hurt yourself. I am going to see Raven. Then maybe both of us can talk to Amelia or Brianna, see if _together_ we can make sense of this."

"I…" Suddenly Alicia looked small and lost. She turned away, her face working.

"Alicia?" Olim asked, concerned. "What?"

"I need to see her." Alicia said softly. "I don't care if I am bound, restrained, whatever. I need to see her." Olim looked at her and then at Mori who winced visibly.

"Who is in charge?" Olim hoped his voice was steady.

"Amelia." Alicia said in a soft voice. "I… I can't…"

"Where is she?" Olim asked.

"She was working with Jimmy." Alica wilted. They had found a packet of Sentient code in the cyborg medic's operating systems and he was reworking many of his systems. "I… Go on. I'll do it later."

"No, you won't." Olim said quietly. She jerked and he smiled a bit grimly. "You will find all kinds of ways to tell yourself not to. Eventually, you will decide not to." Alicia wilted further and Olim sighed. "Alicia, that is how _I_ was. Still am if I let myself be. You are stronger than that blasted virus. Act it." His tone held command and she jerked upright.

"I…" Alicia swallowed and nodded. She hit a com code on the wall and moments later Amelia appeared nearby. Amelia looked a question at her and Alicia nodded to Olim who sighed.

"Alicia wants to see her sister and will procrastinate." Olim said calmly, ignoring the look that Alicia sent his way. "I want to see Raven too. Mori had the idea that maybe a piece of the virus transferred from Alicia to Raven when…" He broke off as Alicia gasped, her face turning white.

"No!" Alicia said, her knees buckling. She caught herself on the desk she was standing beside and Amelia went to her aid, helping the Tenno medic stand. "I… Could I have?" She pleaded.

"I don't know, Alicia." Olim said sadly. She bowed her head and then shook herself, smiling weakly at Amelia before rising. "It is possible."

"Then you need to find out." Alicia said softly. "My own needs can wait."

"Actually…" Amelia said quietly, her gaze flicking from Olim to Alicia and back. "We were wondering when you would ask." Alicia went pale again and the human doctor smiled sadly. "Alicia… it wasn't you. Despite your hate, it wasn't you."

"It wasn't _all_ me." Alicia said with a scowl. "May I?"

"Can you stop her if she steps out of line?" Amelia asked Mori who nodded. "Then yes. You need it, Alicia." She hugged the robed Tenno who seemed at a loss for words. "I will warn Brianna and then get back to Jimmy. Good luck, Alicia." She squeezed Alicia gain and strode to the security field which flashed as she passed.

"I…" Alicia swallowed hard. "I don't know about this…" Olim held out a hand to her and she stared at it as if it were a poisonous reptile. She reached out slowly and took it. She looked at Mori and her eye were beseeching.

"I won't let you." Mori said to the unspoken question. All three stiffened as Amelia appeared at the security field again. She nodded to them and went back where she had come.

Olim took a deep breath and led off, gently pulling Alicia's unresisting form with him. Mori followed, a silent witness. The security field didn't even whisper as they passed it, and the corridor was as Olim remembered. Before he knew it, he was pulling Alicia's still form into the small room where Raven lay. Brianna sat near the bed, her eyes wary. She relaxed as Mori came in as well. But Alicia was so tense that Olim was worried she would shatter if she hit bumped into something.

"I…" Alicia swallowed hard. "Olim?" She begged.

"Stay there." Olim's soft words were a command and Alicia nodded. He gave her hand a squeeze and released it to drop by her side. He walked to the bedside and nodded to Brianna. "Any change?"

"No." Brianna said sadly but her eyes held hope. "Amelia said you had an idea?"

"I don't know, Brianna." Olim replied honestly. "She feels…" He held out a hand over Raven's still form and paused. "Wrong."

"Where?" Brianna asked quickly, then clamped her mouth shut as he focused on Raven.

It was…different. It wasn't the same as what he had sensed from Alicia or the code packets. It was weaker, but… He ran his hands over Raven, a few centimeters off her still form, more to have something to do with his hands than any… He froze as the feeling intensified. He focused further and then nodded.

"Her head." Olim's soft voice seemed to shatter the silence like a hammer. "It's in her head." He said softly. "What do we know about what was done to her head?" He asked Brianna, ignoring Alicia's whimper. Brianna focused on her readouts.

"The Corpus implanted control mechanisms, but they didn't seem to work. They apparently removed her auditory apparatus to do so." Both of them ignored Alicia's gagging sound. "The ocular implants apparently _did_ work, they meshed to her warframe. I am not sure if the warframe did that or the Corpus."

"Probably the warframe." Olim said with a snarl. "The Corpus couldn't find their rear ends with both hands and a map when it comes to this tech." His hands hadn't moved from over Raven's head. "It's…deep…" He said absently. "I don't think it is in the Corpus tech."

"Can you tell generally where?" Brianna asked, pulling up a holo. He pointed a finger at part and she swallowed. "That is the personality center."

"What?" Olim said sharply. "What do you mean?" Brianna paused and then sighed.

"Every brain is different, Olim, but all human and Tenno brains share the same basic architecture." The human doctor said quietly. "Parts are for maintain the function of the body, parts are for speech and hearing and other functions. _That_ part…" The section that Olim had pointed to started to pulse in the holo. "…is the personality center. The part where what makes a person unique resides. Memory and more."

"You mean to tell me she has a sentient AI roaming inside her _personality_?" Olim asked, aghast. Both Mori ad Alicia hissed in equal shock and horror.

"I don't scan anything." Brianna said quietly. "There doesn't seem to be any damage. If the virus was doing anything, shouldn't there be damage?"

"Not necessarily." Olim said quietly, staring at the holo. "Not if it was intended to avoid detection and allow for remote access and control. Did Raven have blackouts, Alicia?" He asked, turning to Raven's sister.

"I…" Alicia paused and then nodded slowly. "Yes. From when she was a teen. You don't think…?"

"I think she _was_ a spy, Alicia." Olim said heavily. "But not a witting one. She suspected the same. She said as much to me."

"Which is why she didn't defend herself at the trial." Alicia breathed, horrified. "No… No, Raven… No. what can we do?"

"I don't know." Olim looked at Brianna who looked unsure. "Brianna?"

"None of the implants that the Corpus put in go into her personality core." Brianna said slowly. "So there is no direct access."

"Which makes it a good hiding place." Olim agreed. "What options do we have?"

"The only one I can think of is to make direct connection.' Brianna said, her face and voice uneasy. "But anyone who does…"

"…risks infection by the virus."Olim agreed. "How long to set it up?" Brianna stared at him and he shrugged. "Not without Karl's okay. Just getting options." Mori audibly relaxed behind him and he smirked. "I am not stupid, _mother_."

"Could have fooled me." Mori's whisper was somehow clearly audible and Olim manfully ignored Brianna and Alicia's chuckles.

"It's a fairly simple procedure, all things considered." Brianna said uneasily. "The ticklish part will be getting in without damaging any tissue, but it can be done. You are not thinking what I think you are thinking, are you?"

"Depends on what you are thinking." Olim said absently, his hand going down to touch Raven's. "Our sister is hurt. My duty is to protect our kin from electronic based attacks, such as this. So yes, I am going to get the virus out of her by whatever means necessary. If that means entering her mind, so be it."

Three female voice cried out as one.

"_No!_"


	14. Chapter 14

**Battle Behind the Mind**

"Are you sure about this?" Amelia asked for the tenth time as she finalized the connections to the electrodes attached to Olim's skull. "We can find another way."

"Amelia." Olim said softly as he lay in the restraints he had insisted on. "You can't _detect_ it. Going in blind will hurt her, badly. I have to do it."

"But…" Amelia swallowed whatever she was going to say and sighed. "I don't like this." She checked the IV drip again, more out of nerves than any real need.

"Neither do I." Olim agreed. "If it were a standard mental problem, you and Brianna could handle it with ease. Even uncommon problems, you two are great at finding and solving. But this is _not_ a mental problem. It is a powerful and likely self-aware computer virus. I can protect myself from it. You _can't_."

Karl had been…less than enthused, but Olim had eventually persuaded him. The Saryn who had assumed the role of bodyguard was _very_ unhappy with Olim's plan, but any Tenno going in without a Cyberlancer's protections would be vulnerable to being controlled. The archival records on Cyberlancers that had been found had been a font of information. Some of what Olim had relearned still felt like magic to him, but it worked in the simulations he had run. He hoped it would be enough. Raven had suffered enough.

"Okay." Amelia said as she laid an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. He lay quiet in his bindings. They probably wouldn't be needed, especially since he still hadn't bonded to a new warframe yet. The bed was fairly comfortable, laid out next to Raven's, and the mass of medical gear in the room had provided everything that the medical personnel needed to get him ready. "Last chance to back out." Amelia half pleaded. Olim just looked at her and she sighed. "We will be monitoring. If anything goes wrong, send the signal and we pull you out."

Olim gave the doctor a thumbs up as he focused his mind. He focused on the feelings that he had encountered when Alicia had shot him and he had fought the virus in her. Now with the help of the records, he remembered that the plane he was going to traverse had been called 'The Behind Mind' by those who could access it. It was a realm between the physical and the spiritual world, one normally populated only with computers and artificial intelligences. But it was real, not imagined. Amelia nodded to him and left the room. Almost immediately, he felt a bit woozy, the mild sedative that they had given him would allow him to access parts of his mind that normally remained hidden. Parts that he would need for the coming conflict.

As the records had said, and Olim remembered from when he had faced Alicia, he was suddenly elsewhere. The walls of the room were gold. The lines of numbers –computer code- ran down the walls in endless golden streams. He focused on Raven and the slim connections that connected his head to Raven's warframe. As the records had promised, as soon as he visualized himself moving, he was. He wasn't walking, he was… It was odd. He wasn't flying. But it sure seemed like it. Mere moments after he had started, he was suddenly in darkness. He bit back a cry of fear as he pushed forward, visualizing his goal and…

Olim slammed to the floor with a gasp. He rolled immediately to his feet, surveying his surroundings. A small room, it had no obvious entrances or exits. The computer code that made up these walls was less golden, more bronze. A different mind. He was in a representation of Raven's mind. He bowed his head, focusing on his goal and then an incredulous voice sounded.

"Olim?" Olim looked up to see a female Tenno staring at him. She wore robes and looked a lot like Alicia.

"Raven." Olim said calmly. "Good to finally hear your voice, so to speak."

"How?" The female Tenno asked, staring wildly around her. "Where _are_ we?"

"We are inside your mind, Raven." Olim said gently. "It's okay." He said quickly as she gave a shrill cry of fear. "I am here to help."

"You can't." Raven said as she curled up on the bronze lines that made up the floor. "I can't stop it. It's… it's too strong…"

"No, it's not." Olim said gently. "How long have you known that you had a passenger?" Raven stared at him and he shrugged. "Your passenger jumped to Alicia; that is why she shot me. It sensed me as a threat. But it couldn't compel your halves to hurt me, so it picked a new host to try."

"I didn't know what it was! I thought it was part of me! It came back! She is fighting." Raven said, her voice tiny. "She is losing. When she does… I will be lost too."

"Raven, it's okay." Olim promised her and her eyes went wide as a Frost warframe appeared around him. "I _can_ help." He knew without seeing that it was composed of golden code.

"How did you…?" Raven asked and then went still. "You…? You are a _Cyberlancer_?"

"I _was_." Olim said sadly. "Nicholas hurt me, I forgot a lot. Then I forgot a lot in cryo. But this I _do_ remember. I stand between my kin and the electronic enemy." He straightened, feeling the comforting mass of weapons suddenly attached to his warframe. "That enemy used you, hurt you and made you betray our kind." Raven gave a small cry but Olim shook his head. "I could not leave you to face your fate alone before and I will not now. Where are they?"

"I barely got away." Raven said with a wince.

"You don't have to fight, Raven." Olim promised. "Just tell me where."

Raven opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a mass of red-blackness swept into the room and surrounded her. A shriek was heard, but then it –and Raven- were gone.

"Well, that works too." Olim said with a sigh as he held up his hand. A mote of swirling golden energy appeared in it and he spoke in a commanding tone. "Seek the enemy."

The mote flashed from his hand and circled the room. It moved so quickly that it seemed like a ribbon of golden energy. Then it paused and flashed once, twice and vanished. Olim moved to where it had been and was not surprised at all to find himself moving. He drew his rifle and made himself ready as he travelled. But what was waiting for him at the other end had him wincing.

The large cube shaped room was half bronze code and half red-black. The red-black was eating away at the bronze. In the middle of the room, two constructions sat on the dividing line between bronze and red-black. One was a large angular structure on which a Valcyr warframe had been impaled. She was still alive, her head swiveled to see him and then shook in negation, but there was no way she could talk. Not with a spike from the structure driven through her abdomen and others through her arms and legs. The other structure was a cage. The metal was all red-black angles with razor sharp points aimed inward and sharp edges on the outside. In it, the Raven he had just seen sat crying. She was hugging her knees tightly as the cage seemed to constrict. Somehow, Olim knew that when the cage constricted totally around the unarmored Raven, she would be impaled just like the other. If that happened… She was lost. He would not allow it.

"Enough." Olim's word was soft, but it echoed around the room. Both Ravens stared at him but he wasn't talking to them. "You have lost, Sentient."

_**Have I?**_ The voice came from nowhere and everywhere. _**You are alone. Half taught, broken. You will serve as this one will.**_

"Will I?" Olim taunted right back as darkness flew at him.

He ignored it, allowing the mass of dark code to slide around him harmlessly. It couldn't touch him. He was busy focusing on the cage that held the now crying Raven. There! He reached out with his mind and pulled free a section of the code that made up the structure. Raven stared as the cage surrounding her suddenly vanished, falling into red-black dust. She gave sharp cry that turned to more tears as she was pulled back to the side of the room that had bronze coding. She stood and stared at him, tears falling like rain, but he was focused on the other structure.

_**No!**_ The Sentient virus snapped. _**You will not take what is mine! This mind is mine!**_

"I think not." Olim snapped as he found a similar spot on the other construct. The other Raven made an odd noise as the things she had been impaled on suddenly vanished. Probably trying to scream with no voice box, since she had the same injuries and modification that the real life Raven did. Then she was also flying through the air, buoyed up by his code to land beside her sister self. Her injuries were bound by ribbons of golden code and she slumped in place.

"Show yourself!" Olim commanded as he held up a hand. "By mind and by will, I command you to show yourself!" Code swirled form his hand to travel around the room and the malignant presence recoiled from it, the bronze coding on the floor moving towards the far wall. "You do not belong here!"

The red-black wall of the room suddenly came alive. A humanoid form striding from the wall to face Olim as he moved between it and the cringing Ravens. A bolt of red-black energy sped from the mass, but Olim batted it aside with a contemptuous swat from his rifle.

"You are going to have to do better than _that_." Olim said with a smirk.

"Fine." The mass of red-black suddenly coalesced into a… Still composed of red-black code, it was a warframe and not just any warframe! A Frost Prime warframe! The voice, the stance, Olim recognized it. "Hello meat." The virus said in Nicholas' voice.

"Hello _energy_." Olim retorted calmly despite the red hot rage that surged within him. Anger wouldn't help here. "Haven't you heard? That one is _very_ dead."

"Death is such a primitive concept." The mass of code replied. "You biologicals are so limited. You will learn and accept your places in the Sentience. Eventually. And I will enjoy teaching you."

"I can't imagine you would." Olim said with a shrug. The mass of code stared at him and he shook his head. "I mean, _think_ about it. Millions of illogical biological minds all thinking different things at the same time? _Ouch?_" His bantering tone seemed to stymie the red-black mass for a moment.

"We will bring order to your disorder." The mass of code said as it drew a huge scythe. It was an Ether Reaper scythe composed of the dark code. Olim put his rifle away and drew the Magister mace he had used to help Alicia. Like before, it was composed of golden code. "We will bring logic to your illogic."

"Sorry." Olim replied absently. "We kind of like the way we are. Return to oblivion, you are not welcome here!"

"Then you will learn to obey!" The mass declared as it charged. Olim met it halfway.

On the line in the very middle of the room, where bronze met with red-black to show the hold on Raven's mind, Olim met the scythe mid swing with a strike from his mace. A massive explosion of multicolored energy tore from impact point of the two weapons, but Olim had braced and he wasn't fazed. The red-black form staggered from the explosion, the scythe vanishing and Olim pressed his advantage. He struck, once, twice, three times, each hit erupting in golden energy as the Magistar slammed into the red-black mass. The human shaped mass of malignant code screamed as bits of it fell off, destroyed by the energy of his mace and Olim pressed his attack.

"Olim!" Raven screamed and he threw himself to the side as a tendril of code swept up from the floor to fling razor sharp bits of code through where he had just been. Then she screamed again as the tendril turned on her. She fell as more bits of black code swept through her.

"No!" Olim shouted and turned on the black mass. The tendril vanished as the virus realized it's peril. It retreated again as golden power suddenly suffused his form. Every step he took on the dark code floor made bits of it shrivel up and vanish like dust. "You will harm _no_ more of my kin, monster!" Olim declared as he raised his mace over his head. "End of Line!"

"**_No!_**" The Sentient code managed to say before Olim brought the mace down, slamming through the mass into the floor of the room. Golden energy exploded from the impact and an unearthly shriek of pain and fear was heard and quickly silenced. Olim slammed the ground again and again. Each time, golden energy poured forth to scour the black code which had stilled in mid line. Each time, the shriek of pain and loss was lesser. Finally, Olim stood on a bronze floor, staring at a tiny patch of black code that was feebly trying to move away from him. "_**We could teach you so much, Tenno!**_" The tinny voice of the virus pleaded. "_**We could make it all better.**_"

"I _am_ making it better. _End of line!_" Olim declared as he slammed his mace down again and this time the shriek was tiny and gone in a moment. "Good riddance!" He snapped as he turned back to where…

"No." He pleaded as he saw the silent armored Raven holding the still form of the other. Then he shook himself. "No." The sorrow in his voice turned to certainty.

Something in his voice made the armored form look up. She stared at him, entreaty clear even through her ruined faceplate. This was the embodiment of the current time Raven, with no voice. But she understood him. Probably because he wasn't really speaking. This was all in the mind.

"Lay her down, sister." Olim commanded. "She is not gone. Not yet." The other Raven did as instructed, hope warring with fear in her posture as Olim stepped up to where the injured Raven lay. He knelt down beside her and paused. When he looked up the other Raven was staring at him. "The Sentients hurt you. Long, long ago. Probably when you were a teenager." Olim said calmly. "They used you as an unknowing, unwilling agent." The armored Raven recoiled and shook her head. Olim made his voice turn gentle. "Alicia said you had blackouts as a teenager? Yes?" The armored form nodded. "I need your help."

The armored form knelt beside the still unarmored one and bowed her head. She jerked as Olim laid a hand on her arm.

"I can heal the damage she took here, but it won't be enough." Olim said sadly. "Collation is required. You and she were both one, before this enemy broke you in half." The armored Raven stared at him, obviously confused. "You can be again. Compassion…" He touched the unarmored form. "And duty…" He touched the armored one on the arm. "Empathy." He nodded to the still form. "And violence." He nodded to the armored one. Then he bowed his head. "Two halves, one whole. But I cannot make this choice for you, sister. I do not have the right. You can live as you have. I don't know if she can recover fully without you, but what we can do, we _will_." Steel would have bent under his voice.

The armored form paused and then tapped the floor. A line appeared on it and she wrote. 'Can you merge us?'

"I can collate the data, put it together. What happens after is up to you." Olim replied calmly. Then he paused. "That is, I know the theory. I cannot guarantee it will work."

'I tire of this half-life, brother.' The armored form wrote and then nodded. 'What do I do?'

"Lie down beside her." Olim said gently. "I need to touch both of your heads."

'Will I remember you?' The armored form asked in writing as she lay down.

"I don't know." Olim said sadly. "But _we_ will remember you no matter what, Sister Raven." She raised a hand and gave him a thumbs up. Then she lay down beside her still sister. Olim lay one hand on the unarmored Raven's head and the other on the armored one's head. Then he focused as never before. Power came to his call and soared through him, code flying in arcs that he could barely follow, let alone understand. Then, it ended and he sagged back, exhausted.

"Olim?" A soft, scared voice sounded and he stared down at both of his hands on the forehead of a female Tenno. Raven was staring up at him, scared. This Raven wore her warframe, but no helmet. There were no Corpus modifications visible. "What just happened?"

"You are free, Raven." Olim said quietly. "We are in your mind. You… Both of your halves, your gentle half and your angry half… merged." Suddenly, Olim was weary, beyond weary.

"Olim?" Raven said sharply. Suddenly, she was holding him up as he sagged. "Olim, stay awake!"

"I have to go, Raven." Olim said with a wince. "And you need to wake up."

"Wake up?" She asked, confused.

"You will figure it out." Olim said as he keyed for a recall and felt his mind extricate form hers. But he had won. The code that he saw was now all bronze with just a hint of gold.

Olim slammed awake with a grunt. Amelia was there instantly.

"Olim?" She asked, concerned. "What happened? Did it not work?"

"What do you mean?" Olim asked softly. "I think it did. How long was…" He paused as Raven moved on her bed. Amelia didn't see, she was focused on him.

"I read odd fluctuations of energy, but it has only been thirty nine seconds." Amelia said, worried. "What happened?"

"Ah, doc?" Olim said, a smile creasing his face. "Turn around." Amelia turned her head and froze.

The Valcyr warframe that had been immobile for so long had her thumb up.


	15. Chapter 15

**Anger's end**

"How's that?" Brianna asked quietly. Raven nodded. "Good." Brianna said with a grin. "Sorry it took us so long to get the auditory systems working, Raven. At least the volume control self-corrected. Blasted Corpus took too much." Hate sang in the normally kind hearted healer's words. She paused as Raven raised a hand and started typing on the small pad that had been installed on her warframe's right forearm.

'You have done so much, Brianna.' Raven typed. 'What you have already done is a miracle enough.'

"We can probably get your voice hooked up, but it will take longer." Brianna said with a sigh.

'More damage.' Raven agreed. 'Olim?' She asked.

"Yes, Raven?" Olim smiled at the Valcyr warframe. Just having the docs manage to connect the remnants of her auditory nerves to her warframe systems was a great help in communication. Now, she could understand speech.

'How are you doing?' She asked. 'You scared me, collapsing like that.'

"He scared us _all_." Brianna said with a snarl that was only half feigned. "You saw how upset Mori was."

Mori had been… Well… The less said about Olim's bodyguard's state of mind when Olim had collapsed due to exhaustion just after waking from helping Raven the better. Mori was _still_ glaring daggers at Olim even now, four hours after he had woken from a nap that the docs had helpfully extended. He hadn't been very happy to learn that he had slept for _twenty_ hours, but no one was upset about that but _him_.

"I am all right." Olim said sharply. "Yes, I overdid it. Yes, I needed rest, if not quite that much or like that." He muttered something that sounded like 'bunch of tyrants'. Raven raised a finger and wagged it from side to side and both Brianna and Mori chuckled at Olim's disgusted snort. "I am okay, Raven."

'I hope you don't mind if I corroborate that.' Raven wrote and her posture was determined. 'Brianna?'

"He _is_ much better, Raven." Brianna said with a smile as Olim made another disgusted noise. "So are you. We got what we could of what the Corpus did to you off and out. The connection from your warframe sensors to your auditory nerves is fully functional. You need time to heal before we try and get the rest out and repair what else was done. Maybe then, we can get you out of the remains of your warframe."

'Thank you, Doctor Brianna.' Raven wrote and her words were projected on a wall screen nearby. 'I need to see Alicia now.' All three of the others in the room stiffened. 'Please?' she begged, her posture one of entreaty.

"Raven, you are still very weak." Brianna said quietly. "You have only been out of surgery for a couple of hours." The recovery room she was in was not as crammed with medical gear or as secure as the room she had been in, but it was off limits to Raven's sister. Alicia was abiding by the restriction. Olim looked at Mori, who shrugged. Brianna shook her head and Raven slumped. "I will ask Karl, Raven. But what he says is final, Raven. He leads the clan."

'I understand, doctor.' Raven wrote and then lay back on the bed. 'I have caused enough trouble for your clan as it is.'

"It wasn't all you, Raven." Brianna sighed and nodded. "I will be right back." She left the room.

"Raven?" Olim asked as she lay back. "Do you want us here?"

'Please?' Raven begged in her writing. "I am scared. I don't want my little sister hurt. I missed her so much. Her anger at me, her _deserved_ anger of me was what kept me going when all seemed lost. I need to explain.'

"I told her what I saw, Raven." Olim said sadly. "She was horrified and wants to help as she can."

'I was a _spy_, Olim.' Raven wrote and paused, shuddering. 'I didn't know I was, but I was. How many kin-' She stopped writing as Olim stepped forward, his face grave. 'Olim?'

"We will never know how many may have perished because of you, Raven." Olim said firmly. "Just as _I_ will never know how many died because of _me_." Raven stared at him, her shock clear even through her closed faceplate. "I only know of two, but there were likely more Tenno killed when Nicholas took me. There are no records." He slumped a bit. "But knowing him, he wasn't betting all of his plans just on me. I bet he wanted a Cyberlancer. There were others. Some disappeared at nearly the same time." Raven's shock came clear through her written reply.

'It wasn't you! It was the renegade!' Raven wrote and shook her head emphatically.

"No? Then the Sentient virus' actions were not _you_." Olim retorted. Raven stared at him and then shook her head. Not in negation, but in rueful acknowledgement. He was getting good at interpreting her body language.

All three of the beings in the room stiffened as two forms entered the room. Alicia was in robes and unarmed. Karl wore his warframe and was fully armed. Karl stopped beside Olim but Alicia continued on to half way between the door and the bed where Raven lay. She knelt gracefully and bowed her head.

"I am sorry, Raven." Alicia said sadly. "For so long, I hated you. It felt…right. Now… I find I was wrong to hate you. I feel…empty. Dirty."

'Alicia.' Raven wrote. 'No. It wasn't you. It was me. My fault.'

"I am still angry, Raven." Alicia said softly, but clearly. "At you. At me. At everything." She was obviously fighting tears now. "But I never wanted you _dead_!"

'Alicia.' Raven tried again. 'Please, look at me.' Alicia would not meet her eyes. 'Olim? Help?' Raven begged. Olim looked at Karl who nodded.

"Alicia." Olim said as he stepped forward. Mori followed close, but he wasn't in danger. Not from Alicia. Not now. "Alicia, please." She would not meet his eyes either. "If there is anyone in this room who understands hate, Alicia, it's me. Karl knows it too, but he is better at handling it than I ever was. It is not rational. It is so easy to hate, and so hard to stop. But you can. Especially when you have someone who loves you." Alicia's eyes shot up to him but he smiled and waved to Raven. "And no, I am not going to try and get between you and Will. I am not that stupid." Against her will, Alicia chuckled. It was a soggy chuckle, but a chuckle. "But you have someone else who loves you too."

'Alicia.' Raven begged her and then held out a hand. Alica stared at the hand, not moving. Raven held it up until it started to tremble. Raven held it up until she couldn't anymore and then retracted it. She slumped a bit and then started typing again. 'Alica… I am sorry. I did so many things that I regret. Please, sister. I…' She slumped further and Olim was moved to speak.

"Raven, don't push yourself too hard or you will wind up like me, unconscious on the floor." Alicia did not look up at his joke and Olim sighed. "Alicia…"

"I hated you." Alicia's voice was small. "For so long, I hated you, Raven."

'I deserved it.' Raven wrote sadly. 'I _was_ spying, even unknowing.'

"We have all been used." Alicia said softly. "I want to move on, sister. I want… I want to stop hating."

'Your path is your own, Alicia.' Raven wrote gently. 'I just want you to know, I love you Alicia.' Alicia sniffled, but Raven wasn't done. 'I love you, little sister and I have always been proud of you. I did not always agree with you, but I was always proud.'

"I…" Alicia broke off, tears starting to fall.

'Now, you have a new family, Alicia.' Raven wrote carefully. 'One to be proud of, and their pride in you is easy to see. No matter what may come, what fate has in store for me, know that I do love you and I am proud of you. I can meet my fate gladly, knowing that you are as safe as Tenno can be.' Alicia was shaking her head, but Raven continued. 'Clan Leader Karl, called Karl Sensei, I surrender to you for trial on crimes committed during a time of war.'

"I cannot take your surrender, Raven." Karl said formally and Raven stiffened.

'I do not understand.' The hurt Tenno in the Valcyr warframe wrote, her posture tense. 'Was I convicted already?'

"No." Karl said with a nod. "But a deposition was delivered to the Council of Elders last night. From a certain Cyberlancer." Raven jerked and stared at Olim, but the male Tenno remained stonefaced. "It stated that you were under enemy control for a long time. It stated that investigation into your past determined that you had been 'tampered' with before you even assumed your role in politics. Let alone when the transmitter was found and you were convicted to die in battle and remanded to the warframe you wear."

'But…' Raven started to type and Karl waved her to halt.

"Raven, you are a _victim_." Karl said quietly. "Not a criminal."

'I _feel_ like a criminal.' Raven typed, slumping.

"You are not one." Karl said with a shake of his head. "So you will not be treated as such." Alicia was staring from Olim to Karl, her face stunned. It quickly turned radiant and Karl shook his head again. "Alicia, your own actions have been investigated and determined to be from enemy action as well. But do _not_ think I or we can forget them."

"I wouldn't ever think that, Karl Sensei." Alicia said, bowing her head. "I will accept any punishment you decree."

"You will meet regularly with Brianna and Amelia for anger management therapy." Karl said with a nod. "And you will assist Raven until and unless she is capable of choosing to go or stay."

'Will I need to go?' Raven asked, somewhat timid. Karl shook his head.

"No." The clan leader said formally. "It is your choice."

'Then if I may…' She bowed her head and typed slowly and carefully. 'Sister to brother, yours in life and death.'

"You are not _healed_, Raven." Alica said quickly, not in negation, but in worry.

'My sister lives.' Raven typed slowly. 'My mind is free and whole.' She bowed her head again to Karl. 'Sister to brother, yours in life and death.'

"Brother to sister." Karl said formally. "Yours in life and death." He stepped forward and took her hands in his and gave them a squeeze. "Get well, sister." He said with a nod, then turned and left the room.

"He… left me…" Alicia said, shocked. She stared from Olim, to Mori, to Raven and then at the floor. "Raven…"

'He trusts you, Alicia.' Raven wrote with a nod. 'So do I.' Alicia read that, curled up on herself and started to cry again. 'Olim, can you bring her here?' Raven begged.

"I can try." Olim said quietly, but Mori was there first, reaching down and picking Alicia up as if the heavily built Tenno female was a mere child. Mori carried Alicia to the bed and sat her down on the edge. Olim stepped close as Raven reached out to take Alicia's hands in her own.

"Don't touch me." Alicia sobbed. "I am dirty."

'Olim, can you read what I write?' Raven said softly. 'Please?'

"Anytime." Olim agreed and then nodded as new words appeared on the wall. "Alicia, Raven wants me to read what she writes. 'Don't cry Alicia', she says." Alicia sobbed harder and Olim laid a hand over Raven's. "It's not your fault."

"It is." Alicia sobbed. "I shot you, I shot her. I am evil. Stupid and evil." She stiffened as Raven's armored hand came up and tapped her nose. "Wha-?" Raven typed some more and Olim smiled as he read it.

"She says you are neither stupid nor evil, Alicia." Olim said quietly, his own eyes starting to burn. "She asks you to be true to who you were and are. Her strong and tough little sister. The one she…" Olim paused and then gulped. "The one she admired. The one she emulated. The one who never gave up, never surrendered."

"I…" Alicia was sobbing her heart out as Raven reached up and pulled Alicia close, the unarmored female Tenno was heaving as Raven brought her down and held her close. "Sister." Alicia said, trying to extricate herself from Raven, but unsure how without hurting the bedridden Tenno. Raven shook her head and typed some more.

"She says 'You are strong'." Olim said, reading the wall again. "Then she says 'You will need that strength. The ancient enemy has shown itself again. You are needed, Alicia, sister. I would fight to protect you, but I cannot. You must. You can and will defend those you love and those who love you. Don't let the enemy win,… Ally'."

At that last, Alicia gave a small cry and seemed to wilt. When she looked up, her tear had stopped. "I won't. Ravi." Alicia said with a tiny smile that trembled. For her part, Raven winced visibly.

'Did you HAVE to remember that nickname?' Raven typed, her posture somehow silly instead of indignant. 'You know I hated it!'

"No more than I hated Ally." Alicia said with a heave. "I love you too, Raven." She hugged her sister gently and then carefully sat up out of Raven's weak embrace.

'Take care of yourself, Alicia.' Raven wrote. 'I just found you again. Don't make me come and rescue you.'

"_You_ were always the damsel in distress, Raven." Alicia said with a smirk that made her look far younger than her years. Raven shook her head, but it was clear she was happy. "Not me."

'No.' Raven admitted. 'YOU were always the Warrior. I was a scholar, a planner, a thinker. Not a Warrior. My death should have come quickly.'

"How _did_ you survive, Raven?" Alicia asked as she sat on the edge of the bed. She did hold her sister's hand in her own. "It was a death sentence."

'I lucked out by being sent to a squad whose sergeant did not want to lose anyone, even a convicted traitor.' Raven wrote after a moment. 'They all hated me, but they needed me as well. It was…bad. The last fight… I wound up in a cave with a cryo-pod after everyone else had fallen.'

"Never underestimate the will to survive." Olim agreed.

"Most of our short term memories are gone from the Cryo-nesia." Alicia said with a sigh. "Some long term too. Raven? I don't remember our parents. Do you?"

'A little.' Raven wrote slowly. 'Do you want to know?'

"They were gone. I remember that. Did they die in battle?" Alicia asked quickly. Raven looked at her and shook her head. Alicia swallowed and then shook her head as well. "Then no." The Sentients tried to take Tenno prisoners on occasion. The fates of those unfortunates… Well…

'I am sorry.' Raven wrote. 'What little I remember said they were good to both of us.' She paused and then seemed to steel herself. 'Alicia, I need to tell you something. Something that Amelia and Brianna haven't told anyone yet. I… I wanted to tell you first.'

"What?" Alicia asked softly, confused.

'The damage that the Corpus did…' Raven typed very slowly. 'May not be fixable.'

"_What?_" Alicia demanded, her face suddenly turning red. Then she suddenly deflated. "Raven? I… What can I do?"

'Alicia.' Raven wrote and tapped her sister's nose. 'Calm down. Please. I am not dying now. But I may not survive.'

"Raven. No. Do you need cloned organs? I can…" Alicia's words trailed off as Raven's finger touched her lips. "Raven?" Alicia asked, suddenly afraid.

'Alicia, there is a lot of damage.' Raven said and then slapped Alicia's arm when Alicia backpedaled 'NOT WHAT YOU DID!' She wrote in capital letters.

"No need to _shout_." Alicia said weakly. "What do I…? What _can_ I do, sister?" She begged.

"Do you want us to leave, Raven?" Olim asked calmly.

'Please stay.' Raven begged him. 'You and Mori may be called as witnesses. I am angry. I am scared. I…feel better when others are here. For so long, I was alone. In cryo and then in the cage and the lab, then the cell. I was alone.'

"You are not alone now, Raven." Alicia said sadly, reaching to hug her sister gently. "What can I do?"

'What do Tenno ever do, Ally?' Raven asked gently. 'We go on.' Alicia looked over her sister's head at Mori, who shook her head slightly. Alicia slumped but did not speak as Raven held her. 'Our kin need you. Whether I survive this or not, Ally, know that I love you and will always be with you.'

"You better stay strong, Raven." Alicia said with a growl. "If you die, I am going to find your ghost and kick your afterlife." It should have been funny, that threat. It wasn't.

"I am here for both of you." Olim said quietly. "I may not be able to swear to Karl, but you are both kin. You are both dear to me." Raven and Alicia both stared at Olim and he bowed deeply. "If I may be of service, you have but to speak. For now…" The door hissed behind him and Amelia entered, her face stern. "I think we have overstayed our welcome. Stay strong, Raven."

Alicia hugged Raven again and then rose. She strode from the room without looking back. Olim hurried to catch up, Mori trailing him. Just outside, beyond the soundproofing and out of sight of the now closing door Alicia collapsed to the floor, keening. Olim knelt by her side and held her hand gently as she sobbed out her pain and grief.

"I wish we could help, Alicia." Mori said softly.

"You can't take the chance with all the Corpus junk still in her." Alicia snapped, her voice raw with grief. "She would understand. She would be the first to say 'No'. I…" Another warframe came up and Will picked her up easily, Olim still holding her hand. "Will…" She begged.

"Take care of her, Will." Olim said sadly.

"I will." The Excalibur Prime said with a nod as Olim laid Alicia's hand on her chest. Will carried Alicia from Medical, her sobs continuing until the door cut them off.

Olim stared after her and then shook himself.

"And now. We have to go to Earth."


	16. Chapter 16

**Secrets of the Motherworld**

Olim moved through the forest carefully. His new warframe was less of a change from the Frost he had been working out in than the Frost had been from his Ash, but it was still different. Even changing the colors had not lessened the impact.

Frost Prime. The baseline model of warframe from which the design of all other Frosts had been produced. The first Frost design. It felt…odd. Not wrong, just odd. The only true difference on the outside were the helmet with its distinctive three golden hoops and reconfigured sensor array. Internally, it was nearly the same, except for some specialized mod capability. The previous owner had modified the warframe to suit himself, and Olim wasn't entirely sure if he liked the layout, but he could work with it. He would have to.

He ran a quick check and moved when Mori waved him forward. It galled him not to be the point of the spear, but all the others had been extremely vocal about his wish to be in the thick of things. Mori had actually threatened to knock him down and _sit_ on him if he got out of her sight even once. He wasn't going to bet one way or the other on whether she had been joking or not.

Will and Alicia had _not_ been joking when they had sworn to disable his rear end and dump him somewhere safe if he stepped out of line. It hadn't even been put to question. When Mori had approached Karl to ask for a team to go and find out about a site of possible Cyberlancer information, Will and Alicia had simply stepped forward as one. Olim was… torn.

Will of course was utterly lethal, totally competent and a rock of stability. Sword and gun, he was easily one of the most capable Tenno in the clan. Alicia… Olim wasn't sure. She was still recovering from the horror of being a puppet added to the mess with her sister. Brianna and Amelia had both voiced reservations. Alicia had nodded and countered each and every one of their arguments without heat. She was very good, no question. Physically at least. Emotionally? Spiritually? He wasn't sure and had promised himself to watch out for her. So far it hadn't been…

Mori held up a hand and Olim stilled, moving into a convenient shadow automatically. Tenno were at home in shadows. Darkness was their friend, not the light that seeped through cracks in the canopy of massive trees that had overgrown this section of the motherworld in the centuries since the fall of Orokin. Some of the trees were the size of spacecraft! But… There was no other life. No animals, no movement except the waving of plant fibers in the wind that never seemed to stop howling. He knew intellectually that the wind was the result of the chaotic breakdown of the weather control systems that had nurtured the humans who lived on the cradle of humanity, but it didn't lessen the feeling of foreboding.

Olim carefully did not move as a group of figures came into sight. It was impossible to mistake Grineer for anything else. His Burston rifle was up and tracking slowly as the small group –two Lancers, two Troopers, a Heavy Gunner, a Ballista,, two Bombards and a Shield Lancer- moved through the forest, obviously unaware that death lurked close at hand. This wasn't the first group of Grineer they had seen, not even close. But their orders were to avoid contact. If the Grineer started losing troops in this area to Tenno, they would swarm all over and make finding the entrance to the data repository difficult or impossible.

Olim knew from reports that other Tenno had been working to stop yet another horrific Grineer plan. This time, Vay Hek planned to defoliate Earth's surface to allow the Grineer easy access to what remained of the motherworld's natural resources. It was…

Olim jerked as the sound of gunfire came from nearby. He heard Grineer weapons and Tenno as well, but… None of his team were carrying Soma assault rifles. They made a distinctive sound. Alicia was carrying a Paris bow, Kunai throwing blades and a Glaive. Will was carrying a Braton with silencer mods, a Ballistica crossbow and his preferred Skana. Mori had the loudest weapons of the bunch. She had selected a Gorgon machine gun, a Brakk hand cannon and a Fragor hammer. Olim's choice of suppressed Burston had met with approval. His akimbo Vasto sidearms were loud, but he hoped not to have to use them. Topping them all off, he had found a pair of Kama that fit his hands as if made for them. This fire wasn't… He cursed silently as he heard shotgun fire. Rapid double shots. A Tigris shotgun. Not a Grineer weapon. Single shots that took him a moment to recognize punctuated the usual rapid fire of Grineer troops. A Vectis sniper rifle? Here? They were not common.

Olim looked to where Mori was concealed and made a small gesture. She gestured back and they stepped out of concealment. Alicia and Will appeared ahead of them, both tense. They stepped close to confer, sensors on high alert. Will made a gesture of confusion and Olim nodded agreement.

There were not supposed to be any Tenno in this area. Most of the assaults that were taking place to slow or stop the poisoning of the motherworld were on other continents. The closest one was supposed to be a thousand or so kilometers from this location. Karl hadn't actually said what he and his clan were searching for when he had contacted the other clans, but he had said they needed diversions. The other clans had all acknowledged. So… who…? Tenno weapons were rare. Very rare, so it had to be Tenno. But… The sounds of Grineer weapons increased. More of the degenerate clones were swarming towards whatever fight was happening.

Will pointed two fingers towards his eyes and Mori shook her head. Alicia and Olim nodded however and Mori jerked in suppressed aggravation. Her job was to keep Olim alive, nothing else really mattered to the hard bitten bodyguard. But Olim, Alicia and Will had lived out in the post Orokin world longer than Mori had. They could not –not _would_ not, but _**could**_ not- simply ignore kin in possible trouble. Will made a circling gesture and pointed his two fingers at Mori and Olim, then to the right. He pointed to the left and Alicia nodded. Mori was obviously unhappy, but she nodded and started into the dense underbrush. Will and Alicia looked at Olim and he nodded and followed Mori.

It wasn't hard to find the fighting. Olim knew from his cursory glances at the history available for this region that this area had been called Laos at one time. Or was it Cambodia? He wasn't entirely sure. Any landmarks that had defined the border of the two nations had long since vanished as the plant life had surged with the disappearance of the human population. It didn't really matter now. He had a trace on Mori, but the Royal Guardswoman seemed to vanish into the gloom of the primeval forest. They passed a few obvious trails, and some debris that was probably Grineer in nature from the look and a few remnants of lettering, but the sounds of firing were still constant ahead. Then Mori froze, held up a hand to indicate enemies ahead and simply melted into the greenery.

Olim stepped to the side, aware of fire ahead and then ducked as a ricochet from somewhere spanged off something metal nearby. He eased slowly up through an overgrown thicket, his feet sinking into an unseen stream as he finally saw the battle ahead. When he did, his heart sank.

At least a dozen Grineer were in cover all around the close side of a clearing that held a piece of machinery he had never seen before. But he knew what it was. A toxin injector for the Cicero defoliant. The Grineer had been working to defoliate Earth for a while, their previous attempts to scour the planet's resources for themselves being foiled by the persistent growth of the Orokin engineered plant life. Olim had no idea why the Orokin had designed the plants to do this, and really didn't care. What he cared about was the two warframes sprawled beside the device. Just from looking at them, he could tell both were disabled. Neither was moving and neither showed life signs when his scanner moved over them. But then, a shadow danced into his vision and a Grineer fell over, cut nearly in half as the Ash warframe vanished back into invisibility. Movement caught his eye and he saw another Ash in the trees, the distinctive shape of a Vectis in it's hands.

The Grineer did not take kindly to the Ash cutting down their comrade, and riddled the area he had been with their usual indiscriminate fire. Olim saw the foliage move. The Ash was darting away, angling obliquely towards another Grineer. But he wasn't the only one. A Grineer Bombard, smarter than most of his kind, sighted on the waving foliage and triggered a rocket. The Ash saw it coming and teleported away, appearing behind another Grineer and slicing deep with a Heat Sword before vanishing again. The two Ash warframes were fighting well, but heavily outnumbered with the others down. Just down, Olim hoped. Warframe revival systems were excellent, but with the abuse that Tenno heaped on their warframes, not infallible. Alicia could help, if not for the mass of Grineer that had found the Tenno who were trying to keep them from defoliating this section of the planet.

Across the clearing, Will eased into sight and made a motion. Mori seemed to slump, but then focused on targets. None of the Grineer saw Will, focused as they were on the Ash warframes. One was teleporting like crazy, appearing, attacking with his sword and vanishing. The other was sniping, using invisibility to line up a shot, then firing and vanishing again. But then a Grineer Scorch who had been working his way around the battle opened fire with his Ignis and the area that the Ash sniper had last been in went up in flames. A short scream sounded and the Ash was suddenly visible, on fire. Fire came in from several Grineer and the Ash fell without a further sound.

Olim snarled and took aim. The other Ash vanished and reappeared several times, his Bladestorm thinning the enemy ranks. But there were lot of Grineer. Even more than even a fully upgraded Bladestorm could handle. The Ash finished his assault and ducked into cover as the remaining Grineer, infuriated, let loose a torrent of fire at him. Then it happened. One of the Grineer Lancers, running towards where the Ash had been, ran through what looked like easily pushed aside foliage. Unfortunately for that Grineer, that was where Mori was concealed. His scream of pain was loud enough that everything stopped for a moment as he staggered back into sight, odd yellow cankers hanging from his armor. Then he fell to his knees, puking.

All of the Grineer were staring as the dying Lancer and then half a dozen of them shrieked and fell, dissolving into protoplasmic ooze as Mori's Miasma reached out to embrace them. Then it was all chaos. While Mori had their attention, Olim was moving towards the fallen warframes. He made it to them and threw up a Snow Globe before any Grineer saw him, but even _Grineer_ could not miss a huge white sphere appearing in the middle of the jungle. He checked each fallen Tenno quickly and bit back a curse. One was beyond battlefield help, the other two were recoverable, but only one of those was within his globe. Then he paused as the Ash who had been burned slowly started to crawl his way. He growled and focused on healing the one at his feet. In moments, that warframe was rising. The Mag nodded to him and then threw out her arms. Every Grineer in the area screamed as they were raised into the air. Crush wouldn't _kill_ them. It _would_ hurt them and more importantly, destroy their com systems. He ignored the awful sounds of armor, flesh and bone being mashed by intense magnetic fields as Mori appeared, grabbing the wounded Ash and pulling him inside the protection. He activated his aid systems and the green mist started to fall as Mori did the same.

In moments, the wounded Ash was back on his feet and with barely a nod dashed back into the fray. Olim stayed where he was as the fighting intensified. Mori stayed in front of him and he knew if he tried to leave the globe, she would hurt him. Alicia and Will were fighting to one side of the clearing, Will's sword flashing as Alicia's precisely thrown knives felled enemy after enemy. Mori didn't move from in front of Olim, her Gorgon tracking targets but not firing. She wasn't going to draw attention to them unless someone attacked first. The battle was mostly done and the few Grineer that survived were trying to flee. The Tenno did not let them. Honor and mercy were all well and good when enemies understood such things. The Grineer did not. If any escaped, they would bring even greater enemy forces down on the area. Between Alicia, Will, the two Ashes and the Mag, none of the Grineer got more than thirty meters from the clearing and the ones left in the clearing fell without inflicting any further harm.

Then, it was over. Alicia stepped forward, her scanners whirring over the other fallen warframe, an Excalibur. She shook her head and then shrugged expressively when Olim looked at her. Better medical facilities might be able to save him, battlefield medicine could not.

The three Tenno they had aided reappeared suddenly, Will with them. The Excalibur Prime cleaned his blade and put it away as he strode to where Olim's Snow Globe was fading at last. He nodded to his team and they nodded back. A gesture and Mori was in the lead, Olim following as Alicia, with a quick look at the other Tenno, took third place in line. All paused as one of the Ashes, the one who had not fallen, bowed to them. Will bowed back and they were in their way again, running lightly and silently through the forests of the motherworld. The other group went another way, hopefully to draw the Grineer who _would_ respond to the battle away.

As they ran, Olim pondered.

_That group wasn't a good team. Maybe a scratch group of individuals?_ Olim had worked with teams like that on occasion in the past. Teams that had been hurriedly assembled for a specific mission and hadn't had time to learn to work together. Tenno in clans called them 'Pick Up Groups' or 'PUGs' with a hefty dose of derision. But if so, that didn't explain what they were doing _here_. None were supposed to be in the area. _Some of them acted like rookies, but that Ash was good. We will need to report this once we get back._

Olim shook himself and focused. He had a job to do and hopefully, information to find. And who knew? Maybe he would find out something about his family. He stiffened as Mori slowed and then stopped at a particular growth of trees. When he and Alicia stepped up, he could see a gruesome face carved in the rock underneath the green. The two female Tenno looked at him and he nodded. From here, he would have to lead despite Mori's reservations.

As he stepped forward, Mori laid a hand on his arm for a moment. He nodded to her and then stepped past, ignoring the other Tenno as his sensors swept the area. He took a step and then two. Then he paused as his sensors picked up something. His hand came up, a warning, then pointed. He could see the mashed remains of several Grineer in a ravine just to the side. He looked up and scowled under his helmet as he saw the huge round boulder that was poised to fall and roll over anyone dumb enough to walk heedlessly through this area. Some kind of system he didn't recognize was in place to return the bolder to its place after it fell. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sensor grid that would trip the boulder. He pointed at the rock and the other Tenno nodded, but he wasn't looking. He was seeing other traps on his sensors. Pitfalls, a sliding screen of razor sharp spears, even what looked for all the world like an array of _blowguns_ aimed at the path. Then he saw something that made him chuckle softly. The other three looked at him and he pointed.

A sign had been pounded into the ground. It was partly overgrown, but the Grineer script was clear.

'Temple of Doom.'

Olim shook his head and looked around. His sensors saw other areas, seemingly clear paths. But further on, he could see other cunning and deadly traps. Spiked walls that would crush, water pipes that would flood, even a place that seemed to be ready to fill with fire, although from _where_ the fire would come, he couldn't say. He shook his head and then paused. This was all…misdirection. Nothing but renewing traps. He turned to see Mori, Alicia and Will staring at him. This wasn't the right way. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew where to go. He strode towards one of the huge trees and slowly laid a hand on it. A pulse of power ran through him and a door suddenly opened in the tree! He started for the tree, only to pause as Mori moved to enter ahead of him. He shook his head and waved at the trap filled path behind them.

From her posture, she wanted to object, but then moved to stand half a meter behind him. Alicia and Will moved to stand a bit further back. Olim shook his head and entered the tree. Inside was small room with a familiar control panel. An elevator. As soon as all four were inside, Olim keyed the elevator and it descended rapidly. Then the door opened and the elevator panel went dark. The door ahead opened and a huge shadow moved in the room beyond.

'Unauthorized access.' The massive golden robot declared as it brought several _huge_ weapons to bear. 'Lethal force authorized.'


	17. Chapter 17

**Guardians**

The room was large, the size of a Corpus hangar. It was rectangular, with only one visible door, the one they had entered. The walls were a dull gray metal, pitted in places with burn marks far larger than Tenno sized weapons could produce. Blast marks also shone in places. But it was no mystery where the burn marks had come from.

Music sounded from somewhere. Odd music. For a moment, he couldn't place it, then Olim _smiled_ under his helmet. 'March of the Raiders' (( watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog )) It was a warning and challenge. And he _knew_ the responses.

_Thanks, dad… _

Alicia, Mori and Will all raised weapons as the huge robot stepped forward again. It wasn't even vaguely human shaped, all angled golden metal. The weapons –and they were obviously weapons- were huge and all aimed at the four Tenno. Olim, however, _didn't_ raise his weapon. Instead, he spoke out loud. Er… _Sang_?

(( watch?v=49EoV50oba0&feature=kp))

"Hello, my baby  
Hello, my honey  
Hello, my ragtime gal

Send me a kiss by wire  
Baby, my hearts on fire

If you refuse me  
Honey, you'll lose me  
Then you'll be left alone

Oh baby, telephone  
And tell me I'm your own!"

All three other Tenno were staring at Olim, but he was focused on the war machine. It seemed to pause and then spoke again.

'Tenno identified.' The robot said in a loud monotone voice. 'Unauthorized access.' Olim took one step forward despite Mori's frantic grab at him. The robot jerked, it's weapons coming up again and Olim sang again as the others stilled.

(( watch?v=5_EdzOSSDV0 ))

"Say, "You don't know me or recognize my face"  
Say, "You don't care who goes to that kind of place"  
Knee deep in the hoopla sinking in your fight  
Too many runaways eating up the night

Marconi plays the Mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember  
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll  
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll  
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

Someone always playing corporation games  
Who cares they're always changing corporation names  
We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage  
They call us irresponsible, write us off the page

Marconi plays the Mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember  
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll  
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll  
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll

It's just another Sunday, in a tired old street  
Police have got the choke hold, oh, then we just lost the beat

Who counts the money, underneath the bar  
Who rides the wrecking ball in two rock guitars  
Don't tell us you need us, 'cos we're the ship of fools  
Looking for America coming through your schools.

Marconi plays the Mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember  
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll  
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll  
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll"

It was hard to say who was more flabbergasted when Olim finished the song. Will, Alicia and Mori all stood in postures of utter disbelief. But then the huge war machine retreated. It returned to where it had been when the Tenno had entered.

'Emergency authorization accepted.' It said as it…_powered down_! All of the Tenno stared at it warily, but it didn't move and a door was suddenly illuminated behind it.

"What… The… _Hell_?" Mori said into the sudden silence.

"My father was fond of singing." Olim was smiling a bit sadly in his helmet. "Those were two of the songs he taught me as a child. The first he called 'Greeting' and the second, 'Emergency Authorization'." All three other Tenno stared at him, dumbfounded and he shrugged. "Can you imagine _anything_ more illogical? _Less_ likely to be extrapolated by a machine mind?"

"Ah…" Alicia swallowed. "Not right off hand." She looked at the robot and shuddered. "I think that is an Orokin 'Guardian' Mark VI Military Automaton. Those were not top of the line, but they could be set to autonomous operation. Any attempts at hacking prompted a very rapid, very _lethal_ response. Heavy armor, heavy plasma and laser weapons. Our bullets _might_ do damage. More probably, even armor piercing rounds would just scratch the paint. My arrows would penetrate, but not far. And I have _no_ idea where the weak spots are on that thing." Olim nodded absently, he was examining the room. He went still as he looked at the wall, no, the floor _near_ the wall. "Olim?" She asked.

"I…" Olim was staring at a shape against one wall. On inspection, it was a Valcyr warframe. Or… what was left of one. The only really recognizable piece was the winged helmet. The rest looked like it had taken a hit from one of the weapons that had made blast marks on the wall. Alicia stepped forward and scanned it quickly. "Alicia?" He pleaded.

"No biological residue." Alicia said quietly. "The sister who wore it isn't here." She paused as Olim sighed in relief. "Olim? You okay?"

"No." Olim said quietly. "My mother wore a Valcyr. I saw… holos…" All three of the others looked at each other and he shook himself savagely. "That doesn't really mean anything. Many of our kin wore those warframes and several of our kin came here, wondering why the facility went silent. Maybe that was the dream… Our kin fighting here."

"Olim." Mori said, stepping close. "Valcyr warframes were not that common, even during the war." Her voice was gentle.

"I know." Olim said, his tone savage. "And I know she came here, so…" He stepped forward, his systems interrogating the empty shell. "Nothing. This warframe has been wiped." He said absently then paused. "Actually…" He mused. "The remaining data storage has been wiped and _formatted_. This isn't normal. If a sister falls in the field, they _usually_ want kin to find out what happened."

"Usually." Will agreed, his own eyes sweeping. "Door?"

"One way in and out." Olim agreed. "Multiple hatches, all separate locking mechanisms. I remember Father telling me how it is secured. Tenno should be able to pass unhindered."

"_Should?_" Mori asked slowly.

"My father told of Guardians." Olim said quietly, still staring at the empty Valcyr warframe. "Plural."

"Oh joy." Mori said with a groan. "Like that one?" She jerked a thumb at the now silent war robot.

"I don't know." Olim said with a sigh. "If he _did_ tell me, I don't remember."

"We take it slow and careful." Will said with a nod. "Our warframes cannot repel firepower of that magnitude. I am betting any other defenses will be just as powerful."

"Probably." Olim agreed. "I better lead." Mori started to protest and he held up a hand. "You right behind me, but I can detect the traps better than you can. If the systems send interrogatives, I can respond better and faster to electronic threats than you can." He turned to look at her and she was shaking her head. "I have a duty to _you_ the same as you have a duty to me, sister." He said mildly and she subsided.

They formed up, Mori right on Olim's heels as he approached the door. Alicia behind Mori and Will behind Alicia. All held their weapons ready. Olim led the way to the door that opened for him. He paused for a moment and then continued on, the other Tenno following. As they passed, each door opened for them. Behind them, Olim heard the doors start closing.

"Shouldn't these be _locked_?" Mori asked quietly. "Shouldn't they require you to access each lock?"

"They should, yes." Olim said quietly, his sensors on full. "Only one reason I can think to draw us in."

"Trap?" Alicia asked, her focus on the smooth walls of the corridor.

"Trap." Olim agreed. The door ahead of him opened and he paused as he saw another large room ahead. It was well lit, but had no visible exits. "And… here we go…" The four looked behind them, but the last door they had passed had shut. They were massive and armored, those doors.

"We step out there…" Will said slowly.

"We are targets." Olim agreed. "Father may have told me about this part, but I do not remember if he did. I don't know what the weaponry is…"

"There are plasma and laser weapons set in a crossfire pattern at alternating levels. Disabling beams are also geared to cover all angles." A male voice said calmly from nowhere. The Tenno spun in place, but there was no sign of the speaker. "There is no need for violence, Tenno. We welcome you to our Sanctuary. Come in."

"I am assuming you are going to insist." Olim said slowly. The others spread out a bit, their weapons not up, but ready.

"I am afraid I have to, Tenno." The male voice said with a sigh. "As I am going to have to insist that you all drop your weapons." Olim didn't need to see the others to feel their negatives. "We mean you no harm, Tenno."

"Well, since I do not know you." Olim said quietly. "I can't take your word for that."

"You are in no position to bargain, Tenno." Behind Olim the walls of the corridor started to glow. "Warframes have remarkable resilience, but they _do_ melt eventually." The male voice said with menace.

"Is Nia here?" Olim asked, not moving.

His systems were scanning and... Yes! There! He focused his efforts on a particular wall section, one where a system junction as concealed. He focused on disabling the heating elements, setting each with a passcode. Others could crack his codes, given time, but it _would_ take time. The other three Tenno had moved to stand in the middle of the corridor, trying to shield themselves from the heat that was increasing by the second.

"Nia?" The voice asked, confusion coming through before the speaker regained control of his voice. "Who is she to you?"

"My mother." Olim said with a snarl as the heating elements suddenly clicked off. "You were _saying_?" He chided as he traced the circuitry, deactivating as many of the defensive systems as he could as quickly as he could. He likely wouldn't get a second chance.

"Cyberlancer!" The man's voice was awed now. "I… I apologize." He said softly. "You are welcome here. You and your companions." Olim stepped out into the room before Mori could stop him and looked around. Many weapons hung from turrets along the ceiling, but all were deactivated. Suspicious slots were visible along each wall, but all seemed empty. Olim did not relax.

Mori snarled at him, but paused as Olim shook his head. She looked at him, her puzzlement clear even through her warframe. A door on the far wall was suddenly illuminated. Will and Alicia stepped out to stand beside Olim and Mori. He stiffened as his warframe detected remote hacking attempts. Ones that he deflected with ease, but they were probes. They would get worse.

"You… and your companions are welcome in Sanctuary, Cyberlancer." The male voice said, calm returning to it.

"Are we?" Olim asked softly. The probes were coming faster and stronger.

"What?" The male voice asked, confused.

"Stop trying to hack my warframe." Olim said flatly. "Or I will get upset. You do _not_ want me upset." The other three Tenno had stiffened and now raised their weapons.

"I…" The male voice spoke sadly now. "I am sorry." Olim stiffened as he sensed…

"_Down!_" Olim screamed and fell to the floor an instant before energy played across the room. _Golden_ energy! Beam of it caught Mori, Will and Alicia and held them in place. "You _bastards_!" He cried as the other three were encased in cocoons of golden energy. His Burston was in hand as the other's weapons that they had in hand were suddenly hefted away from them. The golden beams tracked him and the sheer power when they hit forced him to his knees. "I think _not_!" He shouted as a shield of golden code erupted around him, golden energy of his own driving the other energy away.

"No!" Another voice, female, screamed as Olim opened himself to his power and suddenly he was _surrounded_ by lines of golden code. All around him was golden. Everywhere. He could see _inside_ the walls, he could see circuits, panels, lines, devices… "Don't!" Her voice held terror now.

"You attack my brother and sisters?" Olim said as he rose to stand, surrounded by his power, the code supplementing his shields, alternating the frequencies to deny the enemy the ability to bypass them. "I will _not_ yield to you. Not now. Not _ever_!"

"You can't win! The defense systems draw from the facility reactor, far more power than a warframe can handle!" The female screamed. "Lincoln, deactivate it!"

"I can't!" The male voice retorted. "It's on automatic! If he will just stand down, we can…"

The power assailing his shields pummeled Olim but he focused himself and managed to put a foot forward, then another. The weapons at the ceiling powered up, but his codes stabbed out to them and they powered down again.

"What are you _doing_?" The man demanded. "Stop! We don't want to _hurt_ you! All the grid does is disable…"

Olim tuned his words out as he saw what he sought, an exit hidden behind a panel nearby. It opened as his code stabbed into it, then he was out of the reach of the golden energy and he relaxed slightly as the feedback pain from the energy ebbed. He reached out with a tendril of code and grabbed Mori's limp form, pulling her towards the door. As she passed out from under the energy projectors, she started moving again.

"Olim?" She gasped.

"A moment." He pulled her into the dark hole and turned back, but Will and Alicia were gone! He turned with an oath to see their limp forms buoyed up by code energy like his into the far corridor. The door slammed shut and he snarled. "You _idiots_ are so _dead_!" He snapped as he stepped back, shoving Mori behind him. The concealed door snapped shut.

They were in a maintenance passageway. A small repair drone was looking at the two Tenno and Olim nodded to it.

"Hello, little friend." Olim said, pulsing a sequence of code to the bot. _You didn't see which way we went__._ Its memory temporarily suppressed to ignore the Tennos' presence, the bot went back to its work and Olim stepped forward into the depths of the Orokin facility. Mori was shaking herself free of the lingering effects of whatever had hit her.

"You can't escape." The angry voice of the man came over a hidden speaker. "We _will_ find you!"

Olim ignored him. Mori followed him as he started off. Maintenance tunnels were too pervasive and too cluttered with high power systems to put sophisticated scanners in. There were lots of ways to search them, especially if the enemy had access to drones, which they apparently did. But it would take time, and if the two Tenno kept moving, they would have an edge.

Mori drew her Brakk and he let her take the lead. He had no idea where they were going. He had no idea how many enemies they faced or what capabilities they had. What he _did_ know was that the unknown enemy had two of his kin and he would _die_ before he let anything more happen to Alicia and Will. They had to remain mobile. As long as the enemy could not localize the two Tenno, they would be fine. If they could, well… The presence of robotics was an unwelcome surprise. If the Sentients had managed to get in here, this place was a deathtrap. If not? He didn't know. He had to know what had happened.

The fact that the enemy had not used Sentient code, but _Orokin_ code to disable the team was telling. But he wasn't sure what that meant. The tactics had been… unsophisticated. They hadn't had a clue how to fight him. He tapped Mori's shoulder and made an interrogative gesture. Basically 'Do you have a clue what is going on here?' She shook her head and he sighed inaudibly. The hard way it was.

They had to rescue their friends, find out what had happened and then leave. Good thing Tenno did not generally do easy.

He had a bare moment to hear the onrushing combat mech before it was on them. He threw code at it, but his enemy had either learned quickly or this one was better protected. The code packets had no effect. Mori opened fire as it closed, but it ignored her hand cannon fire which sparked ineffectually off its armor plate. It ran towards Olim.

_Should have expected that_, he thought ruefully as it threw its arms open to grapple him. He threw a Freeze pulse at it and ducked aside as Mori holstered her pistol and drew her hammer. She jumped up, only to be hit by something from another mech that had appeared. She rolled and came up, her hammer coming down to strike at the second mech as Olim drew his kama. Another mech appeared, and then another.

"Please!" The female voice from before begged. "Don't! We _don't_ want to hurt you. Your friends are _not_ hurt! Please!" She pleaded. Olim ignored her, his focus on his enemies. Mori slammed her hammer into her target, which fell in a shower of sparks. "Stop!" The female begged. "Please, Tenno! We are not enemies!"

Olim ignored her, dancing into his enemy, his Kama whirling as they carved in and through the mech which fell gracelessly to the floor. He turned to another…

Something blue gold surrounded him. It was coming from one of the mechs. Almost a bubble. Not energy. It seemed almost a jelly of some kind, but when he swung his Kama at it, they glanced off. He saw Mori encased in a similar blue gold bubble. Mori slammed her hammer into the bubble, but it seemed to do no damage either. Olim shook his head grimly. To be so impact and shock absorbent meant…

"Will you _please_ listen?" The female voice begged. "We are _not_ enemies!" Her next words froze him into immobility.

"Nia was _my_ mom too!"

* * *

**For copyright information, the music and both songs are not mine.**

'Raiders March' by John Williams

'Hello My Baby' by Tin Pan Alley

'We Built This City' By Jefferson Starship


	18. Chapter 18

**Family questions**

"Prove it." Olim snapped, testing the bubble he was in with the point of his right hand Kama. The odd blue gold material flexed, but was not cut. He was stuck. He cast out, seeking, prying, but his code packets hit firewalls all around and bounced back.

"I can't right now, like this." The female voice said sadly. "But… Look, what is your name? Mine is Riana. Mom… Mom said she had a daughter and a son. Karli and Robert."

"Karli is dead." Olim said, almost inaudibly. "I _was_ Robert. I changed my name."

"I am sorry." The female, Riana, said sadly. "We didn't want to attack you. We didn't know what to do. It's been… a long time since anyone breached the hall. And… most of them were enemies. We followed procedure which…didn't quite cover things. You are Tenno. That is clear. You know the Cyberlancer way. That is also clear. Are the Sentients gone?" Her worry was clear.

"You don't know what happened?" Olim asked slowly. "It's been…a very long time."

"We slept." Riana said quietly. "Mom was hurt, she… the residents here helped her and helped me. She didn't know she was pregnant with me when she came here. So much of the facility was broken after the last attack. We worked like crazy to fix what we could, but our coms were gone. We were running out of resources so we slept… I…" She sounded in tears now.

"What happened?" Olim asked quietly.

"I don't _know_." Riana said with a gulp. "When I woke, only a few of us were still on line. The rest are asleep. A few others have woken since you arrived… Mom…" Olim felt a huge weight suddenly hit him. Part of him had hoped… "How long has it been?"

"I don't know." Olim admitted. "Centuries."

"_Centuries_?" Riana asked weakly. "I… Why didn't the Empire come? They were supposed to come. To make it all better." Suddenly, she didn't sound like a threat, she was a little girl needing reassurance. Reassurance he couldn't give her.

"Riana, the Empire collapsed." Olim said quietly. A gasp came from the other and Olim sighed. "There were… problems. Then the Emperor was killed and the Infested broke loose…"

"Infested?" Riana asked, horrified. "What?"

"It's a long story, Riana." Olim said quietly. Then he slumped a bit. "I can't surrender."

"I… I know. Tenno can't." Rianna said sadly. "Lincoln is an idiot, but I know. Mom… She told me stories. I wish…"

Olim shook his head and cast Avalanche. As he had half suspected, the rubberlike material that the bubbles were made of froze quite nicely. Mori lashed out with her hammer, slamming into one of the mechs through the shards of blue gold material that shattered under her blow. Olim had dodged to the side as a stream of electricity flared at him from one of the mechs. His kama came up, but then a massive pulse of golden energy seemed to erupt in front of his eyes and he knew no more.

* * *

"What are you _playing_ at?" The harsh male voice demanded as Olim woke. "He is a _threat_!" Olim felt cold air over his skin, he wasn't in his warframe anymore.

"He is my _brother_." Riana's voice was just as harsh. "_Butt_ out, Lincoln. You have done _enough_!" Olim opened his eyes and was not surprised to see nothing. He slowly moved his hands and feet and found them restrained. Riana sighed. "I am sorry, brother. We have to maintain our security. It's all we have."

Olim did not respond. Instead, he cast out with his mind, only to find firewalls all around him. He was well and truly stuck.

"Please don't do that. What do you call yourself?" Riana asked. "You said you changed your name."

"My name is Olim." He replied.

"What happened to you?" She asked, her voice turning horrified. "The… scars…"

"My family was attacked by rogue Tenno." Olim replied as calmly as he could. "My father and sister were killed. I was taken. They tried to turn me, and when they couldn't, they hurt me."

"I am sorry." Riana said with a gulp. "I can't imagine… I have been… here. This is my home. This is all I know. I live…to serve…"

"So do I." Olim agreed. "I came to find out if this store held information on Cyberlancers, Riana."

"It does." Riana said sadly. "But we can't let you leave."

"Riana, if I don't go back, others will come looking for me." Olim said reasonably. "Yes, the defenses are powerful, but other Tenno _will_ come. You will not be able to stop them without killing them."

"We are going to seal the entrance." Riana said with a sigh. "We are going to blow the whole entry hall. Nothing will be able to get in and if it _does_, the Guardian will stop them."

"Do you _really_ think that will stop them?" Olim asked incredulously. "_Tenno_?"

"I don't know." Riana said sadly. Something brushed his forehead. Fingers. They…didn't feel like flesh and Olim seized his chance.

He threw himself into a packet of code and thrust it up into what had to be her hand. In a bare moment, Olim as standing in a golden room, but… Not a mind. Not a human mind or Tenno mind anyway. The body that faced him was a mech like the one he had faced. The voice of the female who called herself Riana gasped. From the mech. She was a robot!

"You are an AI! Was _any_ of it true?" Olim asked the stunned form in front of him. "Any at _all?_" He demanded, his mace appearing in hand.

"Please." She begged, recoiling. "Don't hurt me!"

"Give me _one_ good reason!" Olim snapped. "The Sentients have attacked my kin again! For the first time in centuries, the ancient enemy has shown themselves again! And now I see _another_ robotic enemy!"

"Because she is not an enemy." Another female voice said sadly. A form composed of golden code appeared nearby and Olim hissed as the golden code coalesced into a Valcyr warframe. "Hello Robert. Or Olim, as you call yourself now." He didn't know her. But he _did_. "I am sorry I wasn't there to help."

"Nia." Olim calmed himself with effort. "Mother. Do I want to know how you are here?"

"Probably not." The Valcyr shook her head but not in negation. Her faceplate retracted and the sad face of an older Tenno female appeared. The face he had seen in holos. His mother. "This is not a storehouse of information on Cyberlancers, Olim."

"That became clear. This much defense. No…" Olim agreed as bits of the puzzle started falling into place. Autonomous. Insane levels of computer security. Computer… "Did the Orokin know you were hiding _AI_s here? Did _Dad?_" Riana hissed, but Nia just looked at Olim, her eyes cautious. He was right, he knew he was. "AIs that didn't want to fight. But would be subverted and _forced_ to fight against Orokin if the Sentients got to them?"

"You always _were_ quick. Your father knew." Nia said calmly. "I knew coming here was a one way trip. He wanted to come, but I persuaded him to let me. He needed to teach you and Karli. He was a better teacher. I…was a warrior."

"So the Sentient attacks…" Olim mused.

"Were real." Nia continued just as quietly. "But we managed to fake this place shutting down. The enemy never realized exactly what the facility held. If they had, they never would have stopped trying to breach this place. They found others and kept throwing themselves at them until they breached them and the facilities self-destructed. This isn't just AIs, Olim. This is a _massive_ data repository. One of many hidden around the system. This _is_ Orokin, Olim."

"No." Olim didn't really mean a negative, but it was hard to believe.

"Yes." Nia said sadly. "What Riana said is true. I came to help. I was pregnant, but no one knew until they pulled me out of my warframe for medical care. You saw the remnants of my warframe. Many of us were sleeping, only Riana and Lincoln were watching when you entered, when you gave the proper codes. We wake fast, but consensus takes time, even virtually. We were debating when Lincoln challenged you."

"You are an energy form. You didn't survive." Olim said slowly. Nia shook her head.

"Not my organic parts, no." Nia agreed with a sigh. "I took a direct hit from a Sentient rocket. We stopped the attack, but all of my companions fell with me. The guardians tried to save us. They pulled me out of the warframe, but I died when they did. They saved my patterns and then they tried to extrapolate Riana's. She was so tiny, so delicate." She bowed her head. "They…couldn't get it all. So they finished her from my patterns. I am her mother in every way that matters."

"She is an AI." Olim said softly.

"I am right _here_!" Rianna snapped. "Don't talk _around_ me as if I wasn't here!" She sounded so like his other sister, that female voice from a mechanoid body that Olim suddenly tasted salt. He was crying.

"Riana." Nia said mildly and the younger female subsided. "She is part AI, part Tenno. Olim, this place is sacred and powerful. It cannot be breached."

"If I don't go back, others will come looking for me." Olim said after a moment. "My kin?"

"Disarmed. Unconscious, but unharmed." Nia said with a nod. "These AIs here came here so they wouldn't _have_ to fight. None of them _wanted_ to. They were incredibly vulnerable to the Enemy, and many of them were friends." Nia bowed her head. "Medical AIs, legal AIs, all sorts of artificial intelligences that wanted a safe place to hide. We –the Cyberlancers- swore to hide them. We did. No other Tenno knew where they went. This was part of our duty."

"Did anyone?" Olim asked slowly. Nia looked at him and he shrugged. "Two people can keep a secret if one is dead."

"Unless one of those is a politician." Nia agreed, a small smile crossing her face. "And... You have _no_ idea how energy forms can chatter."

"Mom." Riana said, her tone an echo of Nia's. Nia shook her head and looked at Olim. Riana slowly knelt. "My existence is meaningless, brother. My mother is a needed. Do not harm her." Olim looked from one to the other and then slowly returned his mace to his back. The salt on his tongue was sharp. This… This was true. He knew they could assault his mind here. He did not give himself any odds at all of resisting. But… They were not. In his heart, he knew why.

"We have a lot to talk about and not a lot of real world time." Olim said quietly. "But… If I may?" He opened his arms and Nia stepped forward, embracing him. In this virtual world, it felt like embracing another warframe. He held out a hand to Riana and she rose, running to join the embrace. "I have missed you. So much…" He said as he leaned into the embraces. The hugs from the energy form and mech form felt…right as odd as that sounded. "Are Dad and Karli here?"

"And I you." Nia said, tears starting to fall. "No… Your father and Karli are…elsewhere. You have endured so much. So much horror, so many trials and tribulations." She squeezed him tight. "I have…some access to the outside." Riana stiffened and Nia made a noise of admonition. "Not a word, Daughter." Riana shook her head and Olim savored the embrace for another moment, then released his mother and sister. Nia stepped back, Rianna matching her moves and then the Tenno female sighed. "You are the last, Olim."

"So I have been told." Olim said sadly. "I came here hoping to find information on how to train more. We will need them."

"You wish to face the 'Test'?" Nia asked her expression grave. Riana looked worried as Olim nodded. She slumped, but her face was proud. "As you wish."

"No!" Riana said sharply. "He isn't ready!"

"Ready or not, Riana." Olim said softly. "My kin need me. I will not cower away and let what we _were_ fade into nothing. We are needed once more."

"I'll help…" Riana started to say, but paused as both Olim and Nia shook their heads.

"You honor me, little sister." Olim said quietly. "But this I must do alone."

"But you are not _ready!_" Riana protested, tears in her voice that her mechanical face could never shed. "It killed applicants _regularly_. Mom…" She protested as Nia laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"He is trained, Riana." Nia said with a small, sad smile. "Or he wouldn't have been able to subvert the defenses as easily as he did. As for ready? No one _ever_ is. That is the _point_."

"But…" Riana sounded so young and lost. Olim laid a hand on her other shoulder and gave the metal a squeeze.

"Riana." He said in a serious voice. "For millennia, under Orokin, our family did what had to be done. Orokin may be gone, but that does not change our duty. Does it?" He asked, challenging.

"No." Riana said in a tiny voice. "Brother… I…" She shook herself, pulled herself close to him and embraced him tight. "I am scared." She said with a gulp. "Even if you succeed, things will change."

"Fear is a part of what makes us mortal, Riana. Organic or cybernetic, it makes little difference. We are all machines that are born, live and die." Olim said with a nod as he hugged her back. "As for change? Change is neither good nor bad, little sister. It just is."

"You remember well." Nia said sadly. "I will prepare for your test. Riana, you and Lincoln wake him, free him and see to his companions."

"They will be upset." Olim said with a sigh. "Can you return them to the surface?"

"If they return without you, they will never stop searching." Riana said softly.

"Which is why we need to explain." Olim said with a sigh. "And yes, I fully expect them to all be _very_ upset. You know who Mori serves?" He asked Nia who nodded. "She was commanded to be my bodyguard."

"Oh…dear…" Nia said with a gulp. "That is going to be…interesting."

"I never knew you had such a talent for understatement, Mother." Olim said with the ghost of a smile. "For the intrusion, sister. I give apology." He said formally.

"Apology accepted, big brother." Riana said with a nod and…

Olim felt his body respond underneath him as metal fingers were touching him, removing things holding him down.

"I am sorry." Olim said softly, but he had no doubt that he was heard by many, many intelligences.

"No apology is needed." The male voice that Riana had called Lincoln said with ill concealed wrath. "Nia explained you will take the Test."

"I have wronged you all." Olim said with a sigh. "I will pay the debt I owe."

"You bring destruction to us." Lincoln snapped. "I don't see how you can pay such a debt."

"Neither do I." Olim agreed. "Yet. But I will find a way, Guardian." His eyes were uncovered and he looked up into smooth metal. The form was the same as the mechs that had attacked Olim and Mori in the maintenance shaft. "Did I permanently damage any when I fought?" He asked, worried.

"No." Lincoln said, his disdain clear. "Their chassis will need repair, but none were lost."

"Good." Olim said, swinging his bare legs off the table. His warframe stood nearby but he ignored it. Lincoln looked at him and Olim shrugged. "The Test is one of wits, not weapons."

"I do not like you." Lincoln said sharply. "I do not trust you."

"I know." Olim said simply. "I am not one of you. You do not know me." He ignored his nakedness, the hostile posture of the golden skinned mech and just stood, getting his breath. "My kin?"

"Next room." Lincoln snapped as a door nearby opened. Olim walked to it. Inside, three Tenno lay. At least they all wore their bodysuits. He paused as another golden form appeared nearby, a bundle in it's arms.

"You would do it not wearing _anything_." Riana's voice was solemn, but held a hint of humor. "But I don't want to scandalize Mom."

"It will take more than _that_, Riana dear." Nia's amused voice came from nowhere. "I changed his _diapers_."

Olim was chuckling as he pulled on the bodysuit that Riana had given him. It was his, he noticed, the plumbing arrangements were different for normal Tenno males. But everything fit as it should. He finished quickly.

"Thank you, Riana." Olim said quietly, then stiffened as Mori surged to her feet. "Out!" He commanded, placing himself between the _infuriated_ female Tenno and the mech. He heard the door hiss behind him but he did not move as Mori stared at him. "What?" He asked.

"What is going on?" Mori demanded. "I heard two female voices. One from that _mech_!"

"I can't say." Olim said quietly, not moving as Alicia and Will both rose as well. Whatever the AIs used for sedatives wore off fast. "For now, we are safe. But I need to do something that none of you are going to like." Alicia and Will looked blank, but Mori inhaled sharply. "Yeah. I am the last."

"_No_!" Mori snapped, stepping forward, her hands up in an offensive stance. "You are not _ready_!"

"Ready or not, I need to do it." Olim said mildly. "I know what to do."

"_Do_ you?" Mori snapped, if anything, even more irate. "Do you _really_?"

"Want to clue _us_ in?" Alicia asked slowly, staring from one to the other. Will stood by her side, ready.

"This facility is and is _not_ a repository of information, Alicia." Olim said quietly. "And it must never be breached by any enemy or it will self-destruct. If that happens, the loss will be…incalculable." He swallowed hard. Nia and Riana were part of this facility, but the sheer scope of what they had described… "There is only one way that they will let us leave. And that is if I pass this test."

"Tell them the rest!" Mori snapped. 'That if you _fail_, you _die!_" Alicia hissed and Will looked stunned, but Olim just sighed.

"I was _getting_ there, Mori." Olim chided her gently. "I need your word, Mori. Silence on what you have seen." Mori shook her head savagely and Olim stiffened. "Mori, if you _don't_, you will not leave here. Alicia and Will haven't seen anything but some old defenses." Alicia opened her mouth to protest, but Will laid a hand on her shoulder and she closed her mouth with a click. "They _can_ leave. You have seen and heard far more. That is my fault and my responsibility. If I can fix it, I will." Mori started to speak hotly, then paused, thinking.

"What test?" Will asked after a moment. "I haven't heard of any Cyberlancer tests that were lethal." Olim nodded soberly.

"Only one _was_." Olim said quietly. "The test for Grand Master."


	19. Chapter 19

**Harsh**

_Olim, Olim, Olim… how _**do**_ you get yourself into these things…?_

Olim had stepped into a small room that one of the mechs had directed him to. Then the floor had fallen out from underneath him. He hadn't lost consciousness, so this all had to be virtual. But it was… impressive.

The area looked to be an actual, for real ledge right next to the caldera of an active volcano. The lava sprays actually felt hot as he edged his way across the ledge that was less wide that he was. He could see his goal, a yawning chasm in the rock wall which was the only way to go. When his vision had cleared, he had been standing on a ridge overlooking the volcano. He had sought for electronics and his searches had been rebuffed. So he was supposed to do this part manually. Which made sense. A Grandmaster had to be brave.

He didn't feel very brave at the moment. It was all he could do not to fill the plumbing of his bodysuit as he worked his slow and careful way across the bridge of code that he had created that seemed… yes it was getting narrower as he moved! Something was eroding his code! He sighed and then, throwing caution to the wind, ran for his life. His steps pounded on the bridge as he moved and then he threw himself forward as the code suddenly disappeared from under his feet. His forward momentum took him far enough and he found himself rolling on stone as he came to his feet, ready for…

The door in front of him opened and Olim stepped forward carefully to find a small square room with three identical doors on each other wall. He knew without seeing that the door he was about to exit was identical to the others. He stepped in and closed his eyes, trusting his other senses. For a moment, there was nothing, then a faint breeze was felt. Olim stepped forward into the breeze, then saw… He rolled as something went 'click' nearby. Something whistled over him as he rolled to the side just in time to avoid something else that came up from the floor and likely would have ended his test right there. He came up against a wall and stayed flattened to it as he opened his eyes, seeing whirring blades passing over his head and in front of him. Then they vanished, resetting. He sidled forwards along the wall, carefully avoiding the now visible tracks that showed the blade traps.

As he made it to the end of the hall, the scene around him changed. Now he was standing on grass, in a forest. The trees spread out around him and he heard animals moving in the distance. He stiffened as he saw the tell tales of electronics all around, his vision augmented in this odd not-quite-reality place. He stared to put out code packets to determine the nature of the electronics and paused.

"If I were sneaky AI type people…" Olim muttered to himself. "…would I leave _unprotected_ electronics around?" No. He wouldn't. He knelt down and examined the closest area that had seemed electronic to his senses and smiled a bit grimly as he saw a land mine. "Nice." Even without looking he knew it was rigged to detonate if tampered with. It is what _he_ would have done. "This is gonna be…fun."

Olim closed his eyes and focused on his memory of what he had sensed. The electronics that served as lures and covers for the traps hadn't been everywhere. There…was…a path. He took three steps to his left and then a step forward. Nothing exploded or went 'crunch' so he let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding and started off. He kept his eyes closed as he walked, aware of electronics all around him, but not focusing…

"Ow!" Olim stopped as he ran into something. He opened his eyes and found a wall in his way. He looked back and the forest was gone, empty corridor in it's place. "All virtual, but no safeties." He said ruefully as he rubbed his nose that he had run into the wall.

That had been explained to him before he had been led to the room to start the test. This test was anything and everything that the AIs could come up with, but also tests geared specifically to…

"You!" The voice was familiar. Olim looked up to see a familiar Frost Prime step out of an alcove. Nicholas had a Reaper Prime scythe in hand and his posture was of attack. "You dare to tread here? You misbegotten hunk of meat?" Instead of responding or even taking a defensive posture, Olim spoke quietly.

"I _am_ angry at what was done to me. I know this and I accept it. I will be angry for the rest of my life, but my anger does not control me. What was done to our kin was worse, leaving us all vulnerable to the Enemy. I have no time to spare for revenge on a Tenno who is already dead." He strode past the Frost Prime, ignoring the wind up as the Tenno prepared to strike. Just as he passed the form, it vanished. He took a moment to calm his heartbeat and continued.

He knew this test was going to push him and his experiences, his mutilation at the hands of the traitor Nicholas and the scum's renegade Tenno _did_ push him. But he had to remain focused. With no warframe, most of his systems of measuring time had vanished, but if this was entirely virtual and he suspected it was… Then time could literally have no meaning here. He shook his head and continued, the next door flashing open as…

"Help me!" The half-naked young female human begged as she saw him appear. "Please!"

_Oh, this is __**sick**__…_

Olim scrutinized the area. The girl was strapped to a chair, high voltage wires running from the straps to capacitors on the walls. He sent out code packets and blanched at what they reported. Shielded anti-tampering systems were live in the chair and the capacitors. If he tried to cut her free from the chair, she died. If he tried to deactivate the capacitors, she died. He stepped into the room, not surprised that the door hissed shut behind him. A click indicated that it locked. Then his heart fell as he heard a hiss and a green gas started to rise from the floor. The girl screamed in her chair as Olim looked around. He saw a valve on the wall by the door helpfully marked 'Poison Gas Cutoff', but…

"No." Olim hissed. The cutoff valve was connected a wall switch that ran to the capacitors. If he turned off the gas, the girl died. If he _didn't_ cut off the gas, _both_ of them died. He couldn't die here, but… He took a moment to look at the girl, who stared at him.

"Please?" The girl begged.

"There is no way to save you. I can't." Olim said sadly as she started to cry. "If I stop the gas, you die. If I _don't_ stop the gas, we _both_ die." He slumped. "Damn it! The lesser evil… I am sorry." He stepped to the switch.

"No!" The girl screamed. "Don't! Please! I will do _anything_! Anyth-" Her cries cut off in a wail of agony as Olim threw the switch. He closed his eyes to keep the tears from falling and the scream cut off abruptly. When he looked up, the room was empty, blank walls of golden code.

"Damn you!" Olim snapped. "I _know_ that wasn't real, but… Damn you _all_…" He turned away from where the girl had been and screamed. "_I hate failing!_" His words reverberated around the small room. He slumped a bit. "I hate failing." It took him a few moments to calm himself so that he could walk again. "All I did, for so long, was fail…" He said softly. "Everyone fails something. It is a fact of life… I have to keep going, but it is so hard sometimes."

"Ah." A familiar voice sounded and Olim stiffened as an Ash warframe swaggered into view from a door that hadn't been there a moment before. "Crying again, you whiny little _brat_?" Nothing else was in the room now.

"Figured I had to face _myself_ sometime in this test." Olim said with a sigh. "You don't need to push it. I _know_ I don't like myself very much. Especially right now." He said dryly.

"And I should care…why?" The Ash asked scornfully as he stepped forward, dual Heat Swords coming out and swinging idly.

"_You_ might not." Olim said quietly. "For a long time, I didn't. Care that is. About anything. About anyone. I was angry. With reason…" He mused, not moving to defend himself.

"Did it feel good killing that little girl?" The Ash asked, the shade Tenno's tone turning wicked.

"I guess it's true. You never really _do_ know yourself. Do you? No." Olim said without a wince. "It didn't feel good. Not that I did. This is all virtual. I will live with my failures for the rest of my life. I couldn't save _her_. The same way I couldn't help Karli or my father. The same way I couldn't stop Nicholas." Olim said quietly, seeming to ignore the Ash. "But you _might_ want to go away now."

"I am having too much –urk!" The Ash was suddenly held in midair, his swords falling to the floor as Olim growled dangerously. The Ash's hands clutched impotently at the golden ring of code around his neck. The ring that held him off the floor. It wouldn't choke him out like it would a human, but it had to _hurt_!

"Fair warning. I do not kill for amusement." Olim spoke in an icily dangerous voice, his hand coming up wreathed in golden code. "I do not kill for sport, or profit. I kill _when_ I must, how I must. I try to live with honor. Even _Nicholas_ could not change that. I will not allow my _own_ baser instincts to change that." Olim made a throwing gesture and the Ash went flying to crash into a wall. He slid down it and didn't move. "You are not my enemy today." Olim said as he strode by the fallen Ash. "Count your blessings."

"Facing my fears and myself sucks…" He passed into another corridor and shook his head as the door behind him locked. "I know the way out is forward, guys…" Olim said with a snarl, still smarting from the girl's screams. "I…"

Whatever Olim was going to say was choked off as he entered another room. This one was huge. It's ceiling was vaulted in the Orokin style. But it was the two open topped cages that stood well apart from one another that had Olim freezing. Both held occupants. Mori stood in one, her eyes shut. Asleep. Riana stood in the other, her eyes open, but her mouth covered by something that glittered with golden code.

"No!" Olim snapped. "Not going to happen. Stop this! I will _not_!"

"You have to Olim." Nia's voice came from nearby. "You have to choose."

"Organic or synthetic?" Olim snapped at the empty air. "No! I will _not_! We _can_ coexist!"

"No, we can't." Nia's voice was sad. "We have tried so many ways. So many times. We cannot. You need to choose. Save your guard, or save your sister." Olim took a step forward and froze as his computer senses reported before his eyes did. A gaping chasm appeared in front of him. Ahead, a narrow bridge went the length of the huge chamber. Halfway across the chasm, paths branched off at right angles both ways. One to Mori, one to Riana. Both stood on platforms over a bottomless pit. "You have… one minute."

"This isn't real." Olim said with a snarl. "You won't kill them."

"You don't know that." Nia said softly. "Choose, Olim."

"Of all the lousy, good for nothing tricks…" Olim said with a grunt as he started across the narrow bridge. He could see the platforms underneath Riana and Mori both shaking as something moved them. Then he blinked and… smiled. "You want me to choose one and damn the other. No."

"Olim…" Nia warned. "Don't do it."

"Who me?" Olim asked, his expression innocent as he smiled at Riana. "True wisdom comes from within, Mother." Olim said softly. "I _can_ save them. _Both_ of them."

"Olim!" Nia said sharply. "Don't!" Her cry turned to a scream as Olim opened himself to his power like never before.

"You… made me choose…I choose… _both!_" Olim grated out through clenched teeth. "I had to kill that girl to survive! I… will… _not_… sacrifice… _kin_… to save _myself_…" Code swirled around Olim as he sought the parameters of the simulation. The security systems of the simulation fought him and he snarled as he fought back, using very trick he knew and some he hadn't known he knew. He used decoys, trojans, viruses of his own, every _single_ trick he had, he threw into the fray to _distract_ his opponents. He couldn't win. Not against such titanic power. But he _could_ distract the AIs attention from his other modifications. A _slight_ change to _one_ small parameter in the virtual environment. A misstep, a bad line of code and the massive surges of energy would fry his synapses, but he made no missteps. All of his code was good. And…

"Time's up." Someone said and the floors dropped out from under _both_ Mori and Riana, but… They fell…_up!_ He had reversed the _gravity_ under their cages! They both went flying out of their cages and across the room in opposite directions. Olim reached up with shaking arms. Ribbons of code grabbed them and pulled them to where he stood in the middle of the bridge, catching first Mori who was just waking and then Riana who stared at him with wide eyes.

"I will _not_ kill kin to save myself." Olim snapped as his power suddenly cut off. He had exhausted all of his reserves. Nausea flared as well. Mori caught him as he staggered. "And you… are… _all_… kin." He gasped, trying to keep his lunch down.

"Easy, Brother." Riana said having pulled the code that had been gagging her off her face. "That was…" She was crying. "That was…"

"Olim…" Nia's transparent human form appeared nearby, her face a study of sadness. "I…"

"That…_thing_ with the little girl was _evil_, mother." Olim snapped, his ire up. "If that was _real__,_ someone is going to _die_!" Even Mori retreated a little at his vehemence.

"It wasn't." Another voice answered him. A small human form appeared nearby. The little girl from before morphed into an older human woman in a formal dress. She bowed to him. "The needs of the many sometimes outweigh the needs of the few or the one. You could _not_ save her."

"Doesn't make me feel very good." Olim said as Mori helped him stand up straight. "Her –your- screams will haunt me."

"As well they should. If you felt it was okay, or worse –pleasant- then you would not be who you are. Almost half of the previous aspirants tried to save the girl." The newcomer said sadly. "And died as a result. The real world can be just as horrible, if not worse. But _this_ was your _true_ test. To sacrifice yourself for others…" She bowed to him again and vanished. "This was the true test. Save one or the other, or neither."

"Or _both_! I will not choose." Olim said, still breathing hard, but calming. "I will sacrifice _none_ of my kin, and if that means my life, then so be it." He said with a snap. "We _all_ have the right to exist."

"Not all will agree with you, Olim." Nia said sadly.

"I don't _care_." Olim almost snarled. "You and Riana are as much my family as…" He paused and then smiled a little ruefully. "As Raven, Alicia, Will, Karl and the rest are. I exist to protect, not to judge. Not to rule. I serve. I am Tenno and Cyberlancer."

"So be it, Cyberlancer." Nia said with a nod. She looked around expectantly and as Olim followed her gaze, dozens, nay hundreds of golden forms appeared around them, hovering in mid-air. "What says the Assembly?" A whisper began, more felt than heard, but then it gained strength.

"Grand Master."

Nia nodded soberly and stepped away from Olim. For his part, Olim bowed his head and nodded.

"I accept this solemn charge and duty." Olim said softly. "The Tenno need me. But I _will_ defend this place, and all of my kin, organic _and_ cybernetic, to my last breath."

"We will aid you as we can." Nia said formally. "For now, I am proud of you, Grandmaster Olim. You have done us all proud."

"I haven't done anything yet." Olim said with a sigh. "But I _will_."

"Come." Nia held out her hand and the other three clasped it. A wave of dizziness and Olim was sitting in a chair surrounded by machinery. Mori sat in a chair nearby with two golden mechs standing silent nearby. "Olim?" Nia's voice came from one of the mechs. It moved away a little.

"I am...physically undamaged." Olim said heavily. "But… I grieve. Even though I _know_ the girl wasn't real. I grieve for her. For my own innocence."

"And that is what makes you better than us, Olim." Riana said as the other mech straightened. "We deal in probabilities. We can act so much faster, but… We are limited. We cannot feel the way you do."

"You are wrong, Riana." Olim said quietly. "I see and hear your anguish. I have known _Tenno_ who were just as analytical as machines. None of them would have spared a thought about that test. Flip the switch and continue on. It was the right thing –the _only_ thing- to do. But it was _wrong_."

"And _that_ is why we need you." The AI who had played the girl said from nowhere, her voice sad. "As powerful and certain as we are, we _are_ limited."

"Not as much as you think." Olim said with a groan as he stood. He had been sitting for some time. "I am… still broken. But I serve and I will not allow _either_ of my families to fall. Not now. Not ever. So I swear. I am Olim, Master Cyberlancer."

"Witnessed." Mori said softly, and the word was echoed by hundred if not thousands of quiet voices until the word became a hurricane. She bowed from the neck to Olim, but then she smiled. "I can't wait to see how you explain _this_ to Karl and the Empress."

"I hate you, Mori." But it was humorous, not spiteful.


	20. Chapter 20

**New Old Kin**

"What do I call you?" Alicia asked as she stared at Olim. "I mean…"

He couldn't really blame her. He hoped that the warframe he was examining would hide the circuitry that blazed across his skin. It was...disconcerting to see code under his skin. But he did remember that it was a mark of the Master of the Cyberlancers.

"Alicia." Olim chided. "Since _when_ do _you_ do politically correct?" He asked with a laugh. "You know my name."

But his wide grin was infectious and both Alicia and Mori cracked grins. Will just shook his head, but Olim knew he was fighting mirth as well. He could feel… Olim snarled and dampened his senses. They were far, far sharper than they had been. The AIs had not been idle in their long reclusion, they had devised significant upgrades to Cyberlancer systems. He could literally count the dirt molecules on the floor nearby. Let alone, the minute muscle twitches that seeped past Will's ironclad control of his features.

"Olim?" Alicia asked, worried. "You okay?"

"I need to be very careful, Alicia." Olim said, shaking his head. "The sensor upgrades are… impressive. I must respect others' privacy." He said as much to himself as to the others. "This is going to take some time to get used to. As heightened as my senses were when I activated my dormant abilities to stop the virus that had control of you, this is a couple of thousand percent more refined."

"We had time to refine things." No one jumped as Nia's voice came from nowhere. This time anyway. "And you are stalling."

"Yes, mother." Olim said as snickers came from all around. "I do not like your plan, but… I cannot disagree with it."

The AIs had determined to destroy the access lift that Olim and his companions had used to get into the facility. It was the only one left intact. With that gone, there was only one way in and out of the facility.

"The gates are not difficult, Olim." Alicia said gently as she stepped into her warframe. It had been carefully shut down and just as carefully reactivated before Alicia began her own checks. No one really expected to find anything wrong, but sloppy Tenno did not live long. The Tenno with Olim had lived a very long time. "Just a step and you are elsewhere."

"_That_ is not what I am worried about." Olim said with a sigh as he stepped into his own warframe. Will and Mori had already begun arming themselves, their warframes situated. "One does not simply pop into Avalon, unannounced." He shuddered a bit. "And Riana…"

"Don't worry about _me_, big brother." Riana said from her mech nearby. "I have accepted this path. Our family knows it's duty."

"I…" Olim started to speak and shut his mouth as his warframe powered up. He had tried every argument he could think of, but every argument, the AIs and Riana had patiently –and then not so patiently- demolished. He sighed as his systems all showed green. "I don't want this. Risking _myself_ is bad enough."

"Olim, we have been _over_ this." Riana said a bit sharply. Not that anyone blamed her. Olim had been…a bit stubborn. "Do I need to get a _clue by four_ again?" Everyone else laughed as Olim raised his hands in surrender at the AI's stern warning. "Good. Are you ready?" Her voice was suddenly gentle.

"As ready as I am going to be, sister." Olim said sadly, then stiffened as his warframe displays suddenly fuzzed.

_Easy._ Riana's voice came to his mind just like the Lotus'. Stood to reason. Both were AIs. _Final connections established. We are live. _A wordless caress soothed his jangling nerves. _I won't let anything happen to you, brother._ Riana said gently. _After all, if anything does, it happens to _me_ too._

Olim shuddered a bit at that. Having an AI living in his mind would take some getting used to. Every Master of Cyberlancers had partnered with an AI. It simply made _sense_. The Tenno's physical protection and the AI's deep knowledge made for an exceedingly powerful combination. He still kind of hoped to find a safe place for her after this, but Riana was having none of it.

"We discussed this." Riana said over an open line so the other Tenno could hear her ire. "Don't even _try_ to weasel out of this, Olim. You need me."

"I… yes, I do." Olim agreed sourly. She had at her disposal centuries worth of accumulated knowledge of Cyberlancers. Tactics, historical analysis, plans, all kinds of priceless information. And her sole price had been to partner with him. The other AIs had questioned her thoroughly, but in the end, they had decided that she was the best choice. Lincoln was better choice to guard, even though he and Olim would never like one another, Riana was more flexible. "I don't _like_ it, mind you. And I still think popping in to see the Empress unannounced is a _bad_ idea."

"You are not." Nia said calmly. Olim jerked as the mech that had gone still when Riana shifted into the systems of his warframe turned a bit to nod to Mori who nodded back. The Saryn's posture was…smug? "Unannounced that is."

"What?" Olim and Riana both exclaimed as one. They shared a mental chuckle, but Olim spoke. "What do you mean?"

"I do have a few, very few links to the outside, Olim." Nia said softly. "I couldn't even tell Riana about them. But I knew what happened to you when it did. After… I heard bits and pieces. The contact has been irregular, but I did maintain the link. I had permission." She said as Riana started to protest on and non-vocal level. "We are loyal to Orokin. We have known that Avalon survived for some time. But I was sworn to keep that knowledge close."

"So… what?" Olim asked, stunned. Will, Alicia and Mori all waited in silence.

"Riana is not just your sister, Olim." Nia said calmly. "She is also _our_ ambassador to the Empress." Riana sputtered and Olim remained silent as she spoke.

"Are you out of your _mind_?" Olim saw Alicia and Will jerk a bit as Riana's angry voice came from his warframe. "I am no _ambassador_!" Mori _didn't_ flinch, Olim realized.

"And Olim was no _Cyberlancer_ when this whole mess started." Nia said calmly. "Your orders are simple. Keep your brother alive and sane." Riana made a noise of confusion and Nia had a smile in her voice. "I know, I know, I give you the hard jobs." The smile in her tone faded as she continued. "Riana, you will be alone. Olim and his kin will help you, but we _cannot_. Your arguments were well thought out, but we _cannot_ show ourselves. There are too many variables, too many unknown enemies."

"I know." Riana sounded nearly in tears and Olim sent a wordless caress to her that she returned with gratitude. "The portal will close."

"And _stay_ that way." Nia said sadly. "My…links will be our only connection to the outside world. Until and unless this Long Night passes… We will remain apart."

"Then I will do _my_ part to help it pass." Olim said quietly as Riana withdrew a bit. Alicia and Will nodded their agreement. "And I give you my word, mother, that I will protect my little sister to the fullest extent of my abilities."

"I would expect no less." Nia said quietly. "Are you ready?" Olim took a deep breath, checking to make sure his weapons were on safe and slung. Announced or not, one did _not_ arrive to meet an Empress with live weapons. Not after what had happened to the last Emperor. Mori, Alicia and Will also did the same and Olim could feel Riana's senses checking each weapon in turn.

_Stop that._ Olim said sharply in his mind. _We need to _show_ trust or no one will trust _us_._

"I apologize." Riana said aloud in a small voice. "I didn't mean to be distrustful. I just…"

"This is all new." Alica said gently. "It's okay, Riana. We understand. Just…um… don't expect the Royal Guard to be so understanding." A gulp sounded and Alicia nodded. "We don't mind so much if you _ask_."

"I understand." Riana said with a sigh. "So much to learn." Her voice turned eager. "Shall we?"

"Before we go." Olim said slowly. "This place is a secret beyond all secrets, a treasure and wonder beyond any that most can imagine. It _must_ remain secret, inviolate. You have all given your words, now I give mine." He was speaking both aloud and in his mind to the AIs. "I will speak to none but the Empress of your Sanctuary. The access we used and the codes we used will no longer function. But only true silence can protect this place. I ask once more. Do you give it of your own free wills, Mori, Alicia, Will?" All three nodded and Olim nodded as well. "So be it." Packets of code flew from his hand to seek each other warframe. Each passed right through the defenses of said warframes to the neural linkages that made each one work. They bound to specific paths of memory and fused there. Those packets would block the ability to speak of the Sanctuary. "Done. Let's go."

None of the others spoke as they walked from the room to another that was bare except for a golden oval on the floor. All four warframes took position in the oval. Only then did Olim speak.

"The Long Night _will_ pass. Humanity _will_ recover. We _will_ remember our oaths to our friends and kin." He crossed his arms ceremonially and bowed his head. "Fare thee well, my kin."

A flash of gold and…

Olim stared around as the room came into focus. It was huge, this room. And it was packed! Tenno in Prime warframes stood around the oval, weapons ready, but they lowered them at some unheard signal. Humans in golden attire stood behind the Tenno, watching. Olim's eyes and sensors were drawn to one side where two women –one older with a glowing crown on her head, one younger- in gowns stood on a raised platform looking at them. Olim nodded to them.

"Empress Eliza, Princess Michelle." He said calmly. "I am Olim, Master of Cyberlancers. I serve Orokin."

"Well met, Master Olim." Empress Eliza of Orokin said with a smile. "You have a flair for the dramatic." She said dryly.

"I don't know about that, Empress." Olim said modestly, but then paused as a hint of impatience came from within him. "I beg to present Riana, my sister. Born of my mother, but slain with her." A gasp came from around the room as a holo emitter that had been attached to his armor activated. A transparent golden form appeared nearby. Riana wore Tenno robes, but half her face was metal denoting her status as part AI.

"Slain?" Eliza said softly. "Ah, I see." Her face turned sad. "You have…?" She prompted Riana.

"I am energy form. I have bonded with my brother." Riana said, bowing for the neck as he had. "He will need help. My loyalty is to my family and to Orokin."

"In that order I assume." Empress Eliza said mildly. Riana bowed from the neck again. "Well, we can hope that your loyalties are not tested, Riana. Well met." Eliza said with a nod. "The portal is closed?"

"Sealed from the other side, Empress Eliza." Riana said sadly. "They cannot…" She bowed her head in grief. "The probabilities do not favor them emerging until and unless the Long Night has passed."

"But _you_ have come." The Empress said, her tone thoughtful. Her face gentled. "And you are alone."

"I have my brother, Empress Eliza." Riana said quietly. "He will need…help." She said with a grin curving the flesh half her holographic face. At that, Eliza barked a laugh and most of the beings with visible faces had smiles.

"I do not doubt that." Eliza said with a nod. "I bid you welcome, Riana, daughter of Nia and Jackson." Riana's holographic eyes went wide, but Eliza just smiled. "We Empresses have our ways. You are as welcome as your brother, not that you two could be separated now. But do not take our welcome for granted. We are polite, but cautious." She said in a tone of warning.

"I do not." Riana said, bowing her head again. "I am not Tenno, but my brother is. His oaths are mine. I serve."

The Empress smiled and nodded. The Royal Guard who had been waiting dispersed and there were other Tenno who had been just outside the ring of Royal Guard. Karl in his Rhino warframe stood with Two in her Banshee and another Tenno who wore no warframe.

"Ric!" Alicia said with joy as her faceplate retracted. "How you doing?"

"I am better." The male Tenno engineer replied. "But someone else wants to talk to you too." Alicia paused and then staggered as another form appeared beside Ric, having been hidden by the crowd. She looked, in form, much like Alicia, but that was understandable. The female Tenno was staggering, but the small dark haired human woman who stood beside her was helping her to stand.

"R…Raven?"

"Hello Alicia." Raven's voice came from a golden box on her throat. "Did you _really_ think I would just sit around and _wait_ for you to reappear? They work _fast_ here. Less than a day after the last Corpus implants were removed, I woke up here." She was tottering on legs that had supports around them, but she wore no warframe and Olim could not see any other tech but Orokin on her person. "The docs here say they can regen my body completely, but it _will_ take some time."

"I…" Alicia swallowed hard, tears starting to fall. She turned to the Empress and bowed formally. "I… I thank you."

"I hope you _keep_ that attitude." Eliza responded with a grin. "Your sister lost _little_ of her political acumen in her long sleep."

"_Raven_." Alicia said with a groan. "You _didn't_."

"Hey." Raven said with a grin that did not –quite- mesh with her words. "I am what I am, Alicia. And I _do_ serve. Now more than ever, we will need all kinds. But my oath to Karl Sensei stands." She nodded to Karl. "He has been…adjusting my views on what I should and should not complain about. Survival is more important now than minor quibbles." She said, her eyes suddenly sad. "Someday, we will be able to have long winded political discourses on small aspects of the law. Until that day, I am Tenno. When I am healed, I will serve the clan and Orokin." She stepped forward and embraced Alicia. "I am glad you made it, sister."

"Raven is loyal." Empress Eliza said with a nod. "Your whole clan is loyal, Karl." Karl bowed to her and then her eyes lit on Olim who moved a bit apart. "You have something to say, Master Olim?"

"If I may, Empress…" Olim said softly. "I need to correct an error." She waved to him and he nodded. He turned to Karl and bowed his head. "Brother to brother, yours in life and death." His words silenced the hall. Karl looked at him and Olim sighed. "I am not perfect, Karl. I serve, but I… I find that even with Riana, I do not wish us to be alone. If you can take my oath, Karl Sensei." A wordless affirmative, a joyous one, came from Riana.

"Both of you?" Karl asked quietly. Riana's holo appeared beside Olim and she nodded.

"Sister to brother." Riana said formally. "Yours in life and death."

"Brother to brother…and sister." Karl said, amusement sounding in his deep voice. "Yours in life and death."

"Well…" Eliza said into the deep silence that fell when Karl finished speaking. "What now, Master Olim?"

"Now, Empress Eliza?" Olim asked as Riana's holo vanished and he moved to stand by Karl who nodded. "I will train Cyberlancers as I find those with the gift. It was rare even in the height of Orokin, but desperation will prove a good teacher I believe. I will keep the secrets I must and I will defend Orokin from all enemies who threaten it."

"Indeed." Karl said firmly as Olim stopped speaking. "We have a long road ahead. We have many enemies who wish to see us fail. But we have a purpose, all of us. Tenno, human and AI." Eliza nodded soberly.

"Let this be the first step then." The Empress of Orokin said just as firmly. "What happened was awful. But without hope of redemption… who are any of us? We _all_ failed." Eliza said sadly. "We _all_ failed so badly, and we _lost_ so much."

"Then from now until we either succeed or fall…" Olim said in a quiet voice that carried. "Let us walk this road together. This road to redemption. Of Orokin _and_ the Tenno." He and Karl, indeed, all of the Tenno present, Royal Guard and not, bowed their heads in unison to the Empress of Orokin and she bowed _her_ head as well. In memory and in promise.

"That said?" Eliza said with a smile. "Let's us begin to walk that road. Together."

* * *

**Epilogue**

The small room was dark, both with menace and lack of light. The only light came from a golden holo of a woman. Nia.

"I _know_ you can hear me." Nia's voice was calm, but held menace. "You _will_ leave them alone. They had _no_ part in what happened at the celebration. Olim nearly _died_ trying to stop it! He doesn't _remember_ that, thank the ancestors. What did you do? You _ran._"

The blackness was her only response and Nia snarled.

"You _will_ leave Olim and Riana alone." Nia's voice might have frozen a tsunami in its tracks. A smart one anyway. "If I hear you have attacked them, I _will_ respond in kind. There is _nowhere_ you can run. _Nowhere_ you can hide that I cannot find you, cannot _reach_ you. You are mighty, but I _can_ kill you permanently. Make _no_ mistake about that."

The darkness seemed to recoil and Nia pressed her advantage.

"You know what _actually_ happened." She snapped. "_I_ know what actually happened whether you remember or not, whether you want to _admit_ it or not. You did not help, you _fled_. You _will_ _not_ target Olim. He is needed. Unless _you_ want _everyone_ in the system to face Sentients _without_ protections. _Again_." She said with a growl worthy of an enraged mama bear. "It didn't work out so well for _you_ last time, did it?" She asked snidely.

"He has…" The voice was male and dark as night.

"_Shut it!_" Nia cut him off. "_You_ know what is happening and so do_ I_! Go ahead, _push_ me! I may die here, but so will _you!_"

"We will need him. Agreed." The dark voice said softly. "But I make no promises."

"I only make _one_, kinslayer." Nia snapped. "_Touch_ my kids and you _die_ for _real_!" With that, her presence was gone from the well hidden redoubt.

"Well, well, well…" The Stalker said as he rose from his sieza in a shadowed corner even gloomier than the rest. "Things just got… interesting."


	21. Chapter 21

**And now for something COMPLETELY different...**

"Come on. You know you want to do it." The female voice said with glee.

"No." The deep male voice was flat and clear. "I don't."

"You forget, brother. I _know_ you. You want to do it."

"It's wrong!" The male protested. "I don't want to do it!"

"But it would be fun!" The female pleased. "Please?"

"It's a grievous misuse of my abilities." The male said sharply. "No."

"Fine, I will." The female voice said with a sigh.

"Don't you dare!" The male retorted, but it was too late!

The Grineer forces on the Galleon had no idea that a Tenno was aboard. They had no idea at all that their entire security system had been hacked and the operating protocol of said system replaced with the recipe for something called 'stroganoff'. Not that they would know what that was. None of them had a clue what was about to happen. Not until one of the Grineer lancers jerked and… started to _dance! _The lancer started to dance and suddenly there was music coming from his armor. Odd music!

They call me Cuban Pete,  
I'm the king of the Rumba beat,  
When I play the Maracas I go  
Chick chicky boom  
Chick chicky boom

Suddenly, more Grineer were dancing. All in a line. All in time with the music. More and more Grineer joined the line. Lancers, Troopers, Ballista, Heavy Gunners, Bombards, Napalms, Scorches, Flameblades, Powerfists, Evicerators, all kinds and _sorts_ of Grineer were dancing along in line, thrown their weapons about as they cavorted.

Yes, sir, I'm Cuban Pete  
I'm the craze, of my native street  
When I start to dance, everything goes  
Chick chicky boom  
Chick chicky boom

The Frost Prime watched with awe as the entire line of Grineer danced… into the _airlock_, which shut after them. Then it vented. Into _space_. With the _entire_ Grineer crew!

"That was _wrong_, Riana." He said with a snarl. "Don't do that again!"

"Oh, come on, Olim… Live a little!" His suster, who was an Artifical Intelligence that lived inside his warframe, retorted. "Shooting them is just so… gauche."

"I _can_ turn you over my knee." Olim said with a growl. "AI or no, I _can_."

"Promises, promises." His sister said with glee. "Now you gonna grab that artifact or jaw all day?" The Frost Prime just shook his head. "I could teach _you_ how to do that dance…"

"Don't even think about it sis."

* * *

**Cuban Pete**

From The Mask ( watch?v=GJej6kCgxVM&feature=kp)


End file.
